


Second Chances

by Kaielan, Wheelie91



Series: Second Chances Universe [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Healing, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Redemption, Romance, Slow Burn, Surprises, Warning: Potential Triggers From The Start
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 20:04:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12895698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaielan/pseuds/Kaielan, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wheelie91/pseuds/Wheelie91
Summary: After turning her back on Voldemort and his twisted beliefs and escaping her former allies, Bellatrix begins a long, winding path to redemption... with the help of a certain know-it-all.Warning: multiple triggers throughout. This is my friend's ideas, written by me.





	1. Prologue: So It Begins...

**Author's Note:**

> **WARNINGS:** Lots of murder, rape and torture. Rape and major torture will be separated into a different chapter for those wanting to skip it.
> 
> Rape warnings start with this chapter

**June 25th 1996**

Bellatrix gripped the rim of the bowl tighter as another wave of nausea swept through her. She closed her eyes as pain gripped her stomach but nothing came out. She was kneeling behind her bed opposite the door, tears pouring down her face. Her sobs had long disappeared, replaced by vomiting and retching. One last dry heave had the dark witch crawling backwards to get away from the stink, her back hit the wall, her arms wrapped around her knees and she lowered her face unto them.

Rocking back and forth, she tried to push the memories of the night to the back of her mind, locked up behind a fog of madness…like she had done since she had joined this wretched society. But tonight… Tonight it had all come back to her.

They had gone out again, to spread terror. It was under the cover of darkness and cloud. Bellatrix had thought weather and time of day would stop being an issue when the Death Eaters were strong again, yet even now they preferred going by cover of darkness. Whether it was because they thought it gave them an aspect of fear or because they liked hiding in the shadows, Bellatrix didn't know or care. To her, darkness made it easier to kill, her victims were just shadows.

So she went, following the others, to a muggle settlement just outside of Yorkshire. Most Death Eaters entered the homes or shot destructive spells into the houses to flush the muggles out. Still feeling the sting from the battle at the Ministry where they had fought Potter and his 'friends', Bellatrix had decided to pass through the muggles' yards, keeping an eye out for runners. It took not thirty minutes before a shadow came running through a yard nearby. Bellatrix quickly drew her wand and hit it with a stunning spell. She hadn't been able to keep a grin off of her face as her aim was just as accurate as ever.

When she had come close enough to distinguish the shadow, she had frozen as a little boy, about 5, was trying to wake his stunned mother. Bellatrix had known what to do, they were just filthy muggles. She had raised her wand, closed her eyes and taken a steadying breath. Yet when she had opened her eyes, she was looking at a two-year-old little girl falling over, dead, next to the corpse of her mother which was still holding a screaming babe. Bellatrix had squeezed her eyes shut and shaken her head, trying to shake the past away. She had started to turn to leave when a green flash zipped by her, killing the crying boy, who fell on top of his mother. She would get a nasty surprise when she woke up.

Bellatrix was pulled out of the recent past by another wave of nausea. She reached for her bowl and painfully threw up a bit of bile. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, the dark witch got up and weakly walked to her bay window, sitting down on the ledge, she opened it and took in a long breath of fresh air.

She tried to settle herself, _'Get a grip! You can't fail now!'_

The Death Eater pulled her hair and stared out into the dark grounds at Malfoy Manor. It did calm her a bit to see the greenery, seemingly untouched by the war. Because that's what this was: a war. Not many people knew it yet but she could see it coming. Tears started running again as she looked at her favourite part of the grounds: the hedge labyrinth.

Blindly reaching down, she picked up a ring from underneath a pillow, she put it on her index finger and started twirling it around. She didn't need to look at it to describe it, she knew it very well: it was a basic gold band with an 'A' inscribe on it. Rommie had given it to her before she had run away. She sighed, she really did miss her look-alike sister. She hated the break between her family, between her friends.

Just then Bellatrix saw a figure out of the corner of her eye, she quickly shoved the ring back under the pillow next to Cissy's pendant and turned her head to the window. She squinted and tried to make out the figure. It was a man, standing at the entrance of the labyrinth. Bellatrix's appearance suddenly shifted from weary of the world to the renowned Death Eater. Not recognizing the shape, she dreaded an intruder. Bellatrix exited the room quickly and moved to a nearby empty guest room with a better view of the exterior.

The figure was still there. He seemed to be watching her. As she looked closer, the face seemed to come out of the shadows. She gasped: it was Sirius, wearing the same dark suit he had the day he died. His expression was the same, then, before her eyes he seemed to fall through the Veil again.

She sobbed, _'I'm sorry'._

Her stupify had never been meant to push him through the Veil.

Turning around, she wiped the tears that had started to flow, her subconscious had been getting through to her lately. Bellatrix composed herself and started to head out, but sobbed and dropped to her knees at the sight before her; Alice and Frank writhing on the ground, their eyes pleading with her. No, she hadn't tortured Alice and Frank, but she hadn't done anything either, that was just as bad. Her eyesight blurry, she raced from the room, going back to her own. Her stomach heaved painfully once more. She knew this was nothing compared to the pain she had dealt countless times over.

Sitting on the floor and leaning on her bed, she let the sobs wrack through her once again. Not for the first time, she wished she and Cissy had had the courage to follow in Rommie's footsteps and run away.

She wasn't sure how long she cried but she did eventually calm down, the tears had to run out eventually. She felt dizzy, as if she wasn't really there…a nightmare. Like she could wake up and not be a deranged murderess. She let out a heavy sigh, perhaps she should go visit with Narcissa.

Once again, she regained her composure and stepped out of her room. Her little sister's room was a couple of hallways away from hers and was situated more towards the front of the Manor. Bellatrix rapped at her sister's door and received no answer. Weird, she rarely ever left her room nowadays. She knocked again, still no answer. Then it dawned on her. _'Shit!'_ She let her head fall and hit the door. Cissy had gone to France with her brat, they wouldn't be back until Thursday. Unfortunately she hadn't taken Lucy, her asshole of a husband, with her.

Letting out an irritated sigh, she started back towards her room when she heard cheering. It was coming from the entrance. Earlier tonight the Death Eaters had split into two groups, she had gone with the second. When they had come back, Lucius and Dolohov were nowhere to be found. She guessed they were back now, and with 'good' news, if the loud cheers were anything to judge by.

Bellatrix tiptoed to the entrance's grand staircase, at the top she had a good view of everyone. Sure enough, Lucius and Dolohov had come back. Lucius was skulking in the shadows whilst Dolohov was strutting as if he had killed the Potter boy, getting cheers and claps on the back.

Tuning into the conversation, Bellatrix managed to catch the louder bits of the exchange. "Killed" … "I defeated her" … "Bones" … "Combat"

_'What the hell. He must be joking. He couldn't have defeated Amelia Bones in combat. She's a challenge even for me.'_ Sensing a lie, Bellatrix slipped into his mind, the cretin couldn't even keep up a proper barrier.

______________________________

A shit-eating grin appeared on Dolohov's face, he recognized this house; home to Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. If he could catch her unawares...well. The Dark Lord would also be pleased.

He crept to the house, stunned at the lack of wards, very foolish. But the door was well sealed, making up for the missing wards, as were all the other entrances. He growled. He was preparing to leave when he saw _'Madame Head'_ apparate on her lawn. Thankfully he was out of sight behind the side wall. The Death Eater watched as she unlocked the door and entered, memorizing the unlocking enchantments. He waited a good five minutes before entering as he wanted her guard down… if it came down to a duel, he would lose. Unlocking and leaving the door slightly ajar, Dolohov silently made his way towards the only light in the house, pulling out his wand. His grin got wider, Bones was standing at her kitchen counter, back turned, making herself a cup of tea. This opportunity was too good to pass on, he stunned her from behind before she even knew he was there.

Bones cried out and fell back, bouncing a little off the floor as she hit it, teacup shattering on the ground. Dolohov went to her side and aimed at her chest, planning on killing her. But then he noticed; _'She doesn't look half bad for an old woman. It's been awhile…_ '

The dark haired man picked up the woman's limp body and brought it to the bedroom. There he tied her to the bedposts, just in case…

________________

Bellatrix swayed and pulled out of Dolohov mind just as she saw the memory Dolohov take his cock out of his pants. She gritted her teeth together and pushed back in a little bit later in the memory, wanting to skip that nauseating section.

________________

Dolohov came and pulled out, still grinning looking down at his victim now with her shirt pulled up around her arms and pants off. The bitch had woken up during the encounter, forcing him to stop. She had struggled against him. The bonds were not as tight as he had thought and she managed to elbow him several times in the head and upper chest. He had put more of his body weight on her, but kept receiving blows. With the force put into the jabs, the whore had almost managed to free herself from her bonds when one well-aimed blow to the head from the Death Eater knocked the struggling woman out and then proceeded to better her bonds.

Zipping up his trousers, Dolohov decided to finish it. He once again aimed his wand at her chest. But he smirked as he looked at the nearby pillows, he had a better idea. He grabbed a pillow, sat on his victim and pressed the cushion against her face. She must have known the end was near as she woke up again and struggled against him, legs bucking in an attempt to throw him off. Dolohov took pleasure in this, and laughed as her movements slowed. It took a of couple minutes for her to pass out from lack of oxygen and a couple more for her to die. When Dolohov was sure the witch was dead, he stood and went back down to the kitchen to pick up the blood traitor's wand. He had to make it look like there was a fight. No, it would do nothing to cover the crime and he didn't care, but if the other Death Eaters believed he had defeated the whore in combat, he would be a champion. He faked the conflict by using the usual combat spells with both their wands, aiming around the house, effectively destroying it.

________________

Next he went back up, untied the corpse, dressed it and placed it on the living room floor with her wand just out of reach, then calmly went to rejoin Lucius outside.

"Defeated her in combat my ass!" Bellatrix had not realized she had spoken aloud until she saw the couple dozen of faces present were all turned upwards towards her.

The dark witch slid down the bannister and jumped off, quickly making her way to the current insulting bastard. Once face to face, she spoke between her teeth.

"You are a filthy liar. You stunned her from behind...Raped Her Then SMOTHERED HER WITH A PILLOW! You're nothing but a _talentless_ weasel!"

Dolohov's eyes did flicker in anger when faced with the truth, but he quickly recovered. Backing up a few steps and circling her, he commented; "Now, now, Bella. We all know you're just jealous that it wasn't you who did her in."

She heard a couple of chuckles from the crowd of Death Eaters. _'Of course they'd believe him, bunch of sexist pricks'._

Then the lying bastard had the nerve to smile at her. Before Bellatrix's eyes, another memory flashed before her, her own this time. She had seen that exact smile before, while the slimy bastard was standing over Potter's muggle-born friend after having knocked unconscious with his family's spell.

The dark witch shook her head violently, what kind of group had she fallen in with? One that murdered innocent children?

A laugh startled her out of her reverie. She looked up into Dolohov's smiling face and snapped.

"You INBRED, MISOGYNISTIC, PIG! _Crucio_!"

The smile quickly disappeared from his face as he fell to the ground screaming. So surprised was he, he hadn't even reached for his wand. The others just looked at the scene, simply glad it wasn't them.

______________________

Voldemort watched quietly from the shadows as the events unfolded. He could tell Dolohov was lying, but he would let him have his fun for now, Bones' death was good news no matter the way it happened. Although it seemed as if Bellatrix had a differing opinion, he had felt her enter the gloating man's mind. He let her have her fun as well, it wasn't unusual for her to torture her comrades. Yet something was different today. He sensed no pleasure in Bellatrix as she tortured. In fact, judging by the man's screams that were, while pathetic, worse than usual, it seemed like she truly meant the curse.

The Dark Lord approached his followers all but the torturer and tortured stood aside for him. Remaining behind the dark witch, he brushed her mental barriers and what little he saw infuriated him.

Doubt

Regret

Remorse

She wasn't his loyal follower anymore. It had happened once before but 15 years in Azkaban had taken care of it. But now this was stronger. He either had to break her again or kill her. Either would do.

The Dark Lord flicked his wand and Bellatrix's went flying out of her hand after her seventh or so curse and inflicted a wandless crucio of his own on the woman. She was prouder, she didn't scream and tried hard to keep eye contact with him. The same strength which made her a good ally now made her a competent enemy. He bound her and addressed those present;

"It seems dear Bellatrix does not wish to fight for our cause anymore." Most occupants of the room seemed surprised by this, it would have only been obvious had most of those fools acquired rudimentary Legilimency skills. With a wave of his hand, he declared; "Do what you will with her but do not kill her… Yet."

_________________

Bellatrix watched the Dark Lord exit the entrance hall. 'This is not good.' She quickly started a counter spell against her magical bonds as she watched the lower ranking Death Eaters carry off Dolohov. The first Death Eaters to come towards her were those she had tormented in the past, the others would have to wait their turn. She kept an eye on the approaching men and tried to wriggle herself free. Bellatrix decided to change tactic as her husband, brother in-law and Lucy approached her, Rowle and Yaxley not too far behind. She was not going to go quietly. The dark witch rocked herself violently on the floor, trying to get enough purchase to get up despite the invisible restraints.

Obviously Rodolphus was just as stupid as ever. A restrained Bellatrix did not mean a safe Bellatrix. He approached without caution and when he was within reach, Bellatrix kicked with both legs into his groin area, sending the asshole to his knees. This distracted the men and gave her enough time to scan for her wand, she spotted it approximately five feet away. Unfortunately her attempts at summoning it were fruitless. She turned her attention back towards the men, she gritted her teeth and growled at them as they came closer.

The dark witch managed to sit up and started scooting back as they approached her slowly. It was obvious that they enjoyed the fact that their presence made her move away. Bellatrix was relieved when her back finally hit one of the white decorative columns, she quickly pressed her back against it and used it to get up.

She knew she needed to get out. The skilled witch was very much capable of Apparating without a wand but spinning on the spot to do so was very difficult in restraints, to add to that she wasn't sure if the Dark Lord had placed anti-apparition charms. She tried hoping in a slight twisting motion, sadly that only drew a couple laughs from the surrounding Death Eaters. After two more failed attempts at disapparating, she was forced to opt for a desperate hop escape. Which unsurprisingly, failed. The first person to grab her was Rowle. He came from the front and wrapped his arms around her to try and pick her up, it was easy to bite down on his shoulder. He yelped and threw her back down on the floor as she took a chunk clean out of him.

Next she decided to scoot to Lucius using him to stand up, knowing full well he would grab her. Also knowing he wouldn't be much of a challenge to escape.

She was wrong.

It seems his anger was fuelling him, all the rage he had built up against her over the years gave him enough strength to hold on as Bellatrix twisted, jumped and let herself fall in an attempt to free herself.

"Would appreciate a little help here." Lucius grunted out as Bellatrix pushed herself into his chest and suddenly pulled away.

Yaxley smiled, he had just learned a new spell and was happy for an opportunity to use it. He pointed his wand towards the leg of the struggling woman and only hoped he wouldn't hit Malfoy. The first light blue hex hit the ground near the struggling pair's feet.

"Really?" Lucius exclaimed angrily. Yaxley just snorted and pointed his wand a second time.

This time the hex hit its target, Bellatrix gave a small yell and collapsed, trying in vain to get purchase on her now one good leg. A victory for Yaxley, the woman who didn't yell during a cruciatus curse performed by the Dark Lord just yelled in pain. It was a particularly painful spell, meant to make one of the bones in the targeted area disappear, and the other shatter. But his excitement turned to disbelief as the pig-headed woman still managed to stand, lean heavily on her captor and headbutt him.

Seeing this the Lestranges grabbed her arms and tried to keep her still but Bellatrix knew she couldn't give up yet. The magical binding was wearing off, her right leg was now useless but she still had hope that she could apparate away if she could only get her wand.

She felt Lucy momentarily pull away and took the opportunity to try and wrench herself from the brothers, but they held firm. Then she felt her sister's husband sneak his arms around her, his left tightly around her waist while his right snuck underneath her right arm and pressed a cool cloth to her face. She struggled harder as soon as she smelled that first whiff of sweet-smelling fluid. Shaking her head back and forth, she did manage to turn her hand away from the cloth and gulp in a breath of fresh air before the cloth was once again pressed against her face. Lucius' grip was tighter this time- pressing her head against his chest.

This time her efforts proved to be fruitless, and now she was getting fatigued as she had stopped breathing when she had identified the drug. She let herself go limp against Lucius to conserve her remaining energy. She felt herself grow nauseous as she felt his erection on her lower back. The slimy bastard was obviously enjoying himself. Luckily she had emptied her stomach earlier, otherwise she may have choked to death on vomit. But there was no time to think about Lucius and his sick fantasies.

However immediately after finishing that thought, a blow knocked the wind out of her, Rabastan had let go of her arm and kneed her in the upper abdomen. It was probably obvious even to these idiots that she had stopped breathing.

It might not have been a particularly painful blow compared to other injuries she had received over the years but it had her involuntarily draw in a couple of breaths. And by the time she had noticed what she had done, it was already too late, she was feeling dizzy and the world had begun to blur. She gave one last attempt at freedom. The dark witch tried to bite Malfoy's hand through the cloth, pressing her body forward. The three men holding compensated for the shift and if Lucius felt her bite, he didn't react. The drug tasted horrible, sweet but disgusting. She closed her mouth and realized something: she had lost. The fight left Bellatrix, she was in pain, exhausted and scared, she couldn't fight any longer. So the best she could do was slump against her captors and let the darkness envelope her.

She desperately hoped that this fight and the following sensation of being picked up and carried had all been a product of her imagination.


	2. Chapter 1: 'Hell & Escape' June 25th - July 7th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  ** _Warnings:_** This chapter contains rape and torture, even i think the rape is redundant (not my story), but there are important storyline bits scattered throughout.

**Day 1**

Lucius and Rodolphus carried the unconscious woman back to her room. They were to lock her in there. Both men, suppressed by this dominant woman for years, knew they first wanted their way with her. Near the room, they decided to put her down. Rodolphus went into the bedroom and removed all articles of clothing from the dresser and closet. Lucius, on the other hand, undressed the woman. She wasn't wearing any shoes or stockings. He took her underwear off too quickly, it caught on the bone protruding from her leg and he had to unhook it to remove it. The dress came up over her head fairly easily. To be honest the man was a little disappointed with the body he found underneath, severely underweight and battered, nothing like the beautiful woman she used to be. Oh well, it was satisfying enough to be able to control her.

__________

Bellatrix awoke violently as her back hit a corner and her neck snapped back. The pain was such that, for a moment, she believed her back had snapped. Taking a steadying breath, she attempted, and succeeded, at moving her hand. Good, she could move, albeit painfully. The witch slowly opened her heavy eyes and instantly wished her back had snapped. She was in her own room, her back had hit the corner of her desk. Worst of all, she was naked and standing in front of her were her husband and her fair brother-in-law. Both wearing dark grins.

The dark witch's eyes flitted to the door behind them. Gibbon was closing the door. In his hands, she spotted her wand and her bottomless bag. Careful to keep her face blank, she focused her attention on the other men. They were waiting. She heard Gibbon a fumble a bit, drop something and pick it back up before finally locking the door behind him as he left. Although she wasn't paying close attention to that idiot, but the two men she had been left alone with.

"She is yours." Lucius said with a false courtesy to his voice. "You may have her first." He motioned towards the woman on the ground. The witch shifted and realized her hands were bound. Obviously they had taken precautions. Bellatrix tried her best to summon the knife she kept under her pillow. It didn't move. Frustrated she realized they had probably placed an anti-wandless magic spell on her bonds.

Her attention returned to the men and Bellatrix bared her teeth as Rodolphus approached her. She attempted to get up, but gasped at the pain in her leg. Looking down, she saw that her right leg was bent outwards in the middle. She grit her teeth and managed to prop herself up with the help of the desk. Her husband, now within arm's reach, did not try to stop her. He seemed to like watching her struggle.

Rodolphus kneeled down, look into his wife's eyes, and slapped her. Hard. Bellatrix's head snapped to the side, she lost her balance and was once again on the floor. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, his foul breath making her want to shift away. "Do you have any idea what it's like to have a bitch like you for a wife?"

Her only answer was to swing her head sideways into his nose. As expected, it didn't hurt much, but it made him angry. Good, she was angry too. She bared her teeth as she watched him furiously unbuckle his pants. She swore she would bite his dick off if given the chance. Unfortunately, it seemed that was not his intention, yet.

With her good leg, Bellatrix moved to the opposite wall. Her husband only took off his underwear, showing off his fully sported erection as he calmly followed her.

The dark witch took a moment to find Lucius, she needed to know what she was going to be dealing with.

 _'What the fuck man?_ ;

The pervert was sitting calmly at her desk watching the scene unfold, he was also sporting an erection. Her clenched jaw was starting to hurt. The muscles in the temples throbbing, she moved sideways towards her bed hoping to get to her knife before Rodolphus got to her. No such luck. Her jaw snapped open as her hair was pulled, ready to bite any flesh that was within reach.

Bellatrix managed to bite his forearm and almost drew blood before he yanked her hair hard enough to keep her at a distance. Ignoring the pain, she tried reaching for the other arm but yelped as her fucking husband leaned on her injured leg.

He whispered in her ear; "You do as I say."

Rodolphus looked at the bed. "Now let's make use of our marriage bed." He would've smirked but he was angry. Years of domination by his wife had soaked through him.

Eager to prove his manhood he threw Bellatrix upon the bed, her soft cry of pain pleasing him. Unfortunately no more sounds were forthcoming as he pulled her legs apart and trust into a bone-dry cunt, drawing blood. He quickly learnt not to lean too far into her as the bitch bit his shoulder, making him bleed. Rodolphus growled and slapped the dark haired woman. She seemed to calm down a bit after this and he continued to thrust into her. He got lost in his pleasure, there was something special about raping a woman. Unfortunately this one was not screaming or struggling, it was always better when they begged. As his pleasure started to build he lent into the feeling, only to have a sharp pain in his ear. It hurt so much he pulled away and got up off the bed whilst he heard a gasp come from the man behind him. It seemed the wench had been biding her time. He raised his hand to his ear, it was missing a piece and bleeding profusely.

Out of the corner of his eye Rodolphus saw Lucius start to stalk towards them but he held up his hand. "I'll deal with her." Lucius nodded and returned to watching the scene from the desk.

"Let's see you try to bit me again."

Rodolphus grabbed Bellatrix's good leg as she kicked at him and flipped her onto her stomach, barely managing as she struggled against the unspoken command. He was stunned and angered by her ability to remain silent during the change in position- he had heard the sickening sound of the bones rubbing together in her leg as it twisted with her, and he was sure Lucius had heard it too. He scoffed, he wanted to make her scream. He looked down at the writhing woman. Rodolphus pulled out his wand, he knew a whipping spell which would not leave any marks. After all he wanted to her to suffer for a long while and making her bleed on the first day would more than likely shorten the couple of weeks she had left to live. He knew he probably would not attain his goal tonight, but he would have more opportunities to make her scream as she broke down.

He swung his wand towards his wife's back and heard an invisible whip hit her. A small twitch was the only indication the spell had worked. He swung it again and again getting closer to her in hopes it would make the blows harder but, yet again, it proved a waste of time, nothing.

Rodolphus grunted as a powerful blow was delivered to his lower abdomen. The bitch had kicked him. Fuck it, he hit her leg with the whip, hearing the crunch of her bones and the soft whimper that went with it was satisfying. Wanting to fuck her now, he tossed his wand to the loveseat and got on the bed. He grabbed her thighs and thrust into her again. She was face down on the bed so he made sure that he thrust into her hard enough to apply pressure on her crooked neck. He found it very enjoyable to watch his blood drip on her face and the disgusted expression worn at the situation. At least she wasn't untouched.

Bellatrix listened to her husband cum inside of her and had to swallow the rising bile in her throat. It hurt and it was absolutely disgusting. She had struggled but after 14 years in Azkaban her physical strength had mostly left her. She found it best now to save her strength and wait for the opportune moment to escape. She was relieved when he finally pulled out. Bellatrix stayed where she was and closed her eyes, listening. She could hear Rodolphus dressing and speaking with Lucius. She didn't pay attention to what they were saying but it seemed to be in angry tones.

Her eyes flew open as a softer hand, Lucius', grabbed her side and flipped her off the bed. The witch grimaced as she landed on her hands, tied behind her back her wrist were crushed beneath her as she landed. They weren't broken, but they would swell up later. She looked up to see Lucius standing over her, naked from the waist down. He dropped to his knees and painfully pinned her shoulders to the ground. He followed by roughly slamming into her she bared her teeth at him. As her husband had been trusting to attempt to injure her neck, her brother-in-law attempted to injure her hands by flopping on her like a dying fish. It worked better than her husband's attempts. All the while she heard him assert his dominance over her.

She knew it didn't matter, he would always be beneath her. So she once again closed her eyes and tried her best to ignore what was happening. Avoid injury, then escape.

It seemed to take forever but the bonehead finally finished. And picked himself up. After an added kick from Lucius and expletives from both the men, they finally left her alone. Once Bella heard the door closed she turned onto her side to relieve her throbbing wrists and let the tears she had been holding back flow. Those fucking bastards would pay. She would escape and make them pay.

As she felt her bonds being released was slowly drifting off to sleep a thought crossed her mind. She would have to take one of her contraceptive potions. If she lived through this there was no way in hell she would be having their children.

__________

Lucius looked at the grandfather clock in the hallway as he and Rodolphus exited the bitch's now prison. A little past one in the morning. He stretched a little he was really sore, but it was worth it. And it was only the beginning.

__________

**Day 2**

"Fuck, what happened to you?" Rabastan asked as he looked a dishevelled Lucius and a bloody Rodolphus up and down. He had been looking for his brother for two hours now, he had disappeared not long after they had managed to capture the crazy woman.

"The bitch still has fight in her." Lucius replied somewhat defensively.

"I'm sorry what?" Rabastan was confused, she had been knocked out, how the fuck did she fight back as they were locking her up?

Rodolphus threw his arm around his older brother. "My dear brother, you have no imagination."

Rabastan's eyes widened at the suggestive tone in his brother's voice. Then he tentatively asked; "Could I have a turn?"

"Of course!" Rodolphus exclaimed as he slapped his brother on the back. "Fair warning though, she does bite." He grimaced as he pointed out his ear.

"We have an idea." The trio turned to face Dolohov and Yaxley coming towards them.

"And that is…?" Rodolphus prompted.

"The Imperious curse." Yaxley revealed with a plotting smile.

"Imagine the things we could make her do." Dolohov finished.

The group of men looked at each other for a couple of moments before all of them crossed the short distance back to Bellatrix's room. Though Rodolphus did take the time to heal his ear before entering the room.

__________

Bellatrix felt dread creep up on her when she heard the door open again and several sets of steps come into the room. She had somehow ended up in bed with the covers over her.

She heard a sarcastic "Wake up sweetheart!" as a newly healed Dolohov grabbed a sore wrist and dragged her out of the bed. Bellatrix managed to keep her cry of pain to only a peep, she was getting used to the pain in her leg. She clawed at the fool's face, scratching him bloody.

Then suddenly she couldn't do it anymore. Bellatrix felt her hands moving of their own accord to run themselves through the disgusting's man's hair. She looked past the man in front of her to see, Yaxley, the Lestrange brothers and Lucius. All undressing, save Rabastan by the door looking very hesitant. Dolohov moved out of her grasped to remove his clothes as well.

"I call front." He said.

"Cunt or mouth?" Yaxley asked as he sat down on the bed holding his wand. He was the one using the curse on her. _'Oh, he is going to regret this.'_ She wasn't sure how or when, but he would.

"I get her fucking cunt." Rodolphus called.

Disturbingly she felt herself walk over to her husband and, in a way that would be described as sexy, coxed her husband down to ground before sitting herself on his disgusting appendage. She heard a round of laughter before she unwillingly exposed her rear and opened her mouth.

Dolohov grunted in pleasure as he slid his cock into her mouth. As much as she tried Bellatrix just could not bite down, hell she was fucking compliant even as Lucy entered her backside. Another cock appeared to her right, and her hand went up to rub it. She felt like heaving, hell, like crying. It was so hard to breathe, she was being held up by a sore left wrist and one good leg, and moving bodies with a cock deep in her mouth.

Bellatrix was being used against her will, she tried to shut her eyes to try and block things out. But she couldn't. One of the upsides of being an expert in legimency is that occlumency can also be used to lock yourself in your mind. Unfortunately it was hard to stay isolated, especially during "shift change". They seemed to all want a turn everywhere. Absolutely disgusting. Especially when one of them switched from her ass to her mouth, she needed to keep herself from vomiting, she would definitely suffocate otherwise.

It seemed like forever, but they finally got tired of this. She collapsed as they all pulled out.

Bellatrix curled up on her side. She was nauseous, her stomach felt like they had made her swallow much more than they can possibly create. She wanted to throw up, but she was too exhausted. Her groin area was wet, she was probably bleeding, along with whatever. She sighed and closed her eyes. She didn't even want to move anymore as they left, laughing.

___________

The men exited the room laughing. Yaxley led and spun around to the others; "We are never doing that again. I don't know about you, but I never want to see your cocks again."

Another round of chuckling and a few murmurs of agreement solidified that statement.

"So what are we going to do? Set up a schedule?" Dolohov mocked.

"No fucking way! First come, first served." Rodolphus snorted.

Lucius scoffed and added; "In any case we need to figure how to keep her docile. Also, what are we feeding her?"

"Can't we just use the Imperious curse all the time?" Rabastan asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Yaxley exclaimed. "Do you realize how hard it is to keep that spell going when you're cumming?"

"Plus it's so much more fun if we could get her to scream." Rodolphus smirked.

"I would love to watch her struggle against a chloroformed cloth." Lucius stated. "Though it might not be feasible in the long run." He looked at the men around him as they headed to their separate rooms. "I think I'll try that tomorrow."

With another round of chuckles they parted to go to their separate rooms, all of them had work to do tomorrow, either with the Dark Lord or at the Ministry.

As Lucius entered his room he spotted Gibbon heading downstairs. "Hey!" The man looked at him. "Make sure the bitch doesn't starve to death. Oh and feed her in the morning I don't want her throwing up all over us."

Gibbon nodded and Lucius entered his room. _'What am I going to do about Narcissa tomorrow?'_

__________

Bellatrix dragged herself out of bed, she would have to find out how she kept getting in bed, she only remembered passing out on the floor after being released. Bella wanted to hop to her dresser, but she was exhausted so she started to crawl to her dresser, only to get dizzy and throw up halfway there. She immediately wished for a glass of water, but the adjoining bathroom so far away. She sighed, and started for the door before spotting a full glass on her nightstand. She would get it as she returned to bed.

In a hidden compartment in her wardrobe were her potions, nothing which would help get her out, but pain potions, contraceptives, sleeping potions, a couple healing potions. As she opened her wardrobe, she frustratingly noticed it had been emptied of her clothes. But the trap door was undisturbed. She took a pain potion and contraceptives. She didn't take the sleeping potion, she was already falling asleep, nor did she take one of the two healing potions. Her leg needed to heal, but it would need to be rebroken and she would need Skelegrow to regrow the second bone, so she decided to keep the general healing potions for other later injuries she would more than likely sustain later in her captivity. After hiding the containers, she crawled back to the nightstand and downed the cool glass of water and placed it back on its stand. She was pleased to see it automatically refilled itself. The last thought that passed her mind as she hoisted herself back into bed was that she would at least not die of dehydration.

**Day 3**

Bellatrix awoke at the sound of loud crashing and thrashing. It sounded as if someone was repeatedly kicking the floor and occasionally hitting furniture. As the sound came closer, she heard gasps of pain and a familiar voice.

"Let go!"

Bellatrix straightened at the sound of her sister's voice. It was early morning, and Narcissa should have arrived about an hour earlier with her brat.

She heard a growl of pain and a sharp sound as Lucy exclaimed, "Fucking bitch!"

Another gasp of pain from her sister, she must have bit Lucy. Of course, there would be repercussions. Bellatrix struggled to get to her feet, using every piece of furniture on her way to the door to steady herself. She crashed against the door trying desperately to get through to her baby sister. As stupid as it seemed she tried the doorknob, which was cursed with a painful locking spell, then all the windows as she hoped a ward was weak enough to break through. No such luck.

Tears started pouring down her cheeks as she yelled out: "Cissy!"

She would never call Narcissa by her nickname if anyone could hear her. But she hoped the childhood nickname brought some comfort as she could hear Cissy quietly sob as she was dragged down the hallway to her room.

"Cissy! Cissy!"

When her sister didn't answer, Bellatrix gave up yelling and slumped to the floor. They had put silencing charms on her room. Chances were Narcissa didn't even know she was in the manor. She gritted her teeth as she heard Narcissa being thrown into her bedroom.

"Your sister isn't here to protect you anymore." Proclaimed sir dipshit, loudly and proudly, "You aren't going out ever again." It sounded as if he had started choking his wife. "You are mine, understand? My whore."

Narcissa must have acquiesced as the door slammed shut and Lucius walked back down the hallway.

__________

Bellatrix woke to a sharp pain in her broken leg. Looking for the source, she found Gibbon attempting to open the door, carrying a tray. She moved out of the way and briefly thought about escaping through the cracked door, but she couldn't get there fast enough and there were probably more Death Eaters nearby. The door clicked shut and she turned her attention back to Gibbon.

The tray he was carrying had food. She couldn't smell it, so it was probably cold. The small man placed the tray on her desk. She waited until he left before cautiously approaching her first meal since her imprisonment. She had noticed the small smirk on Gibbon's face. Hopping to the desk and sitting down, she looked at the tray in front of her.

Cold burnt eggs, mouldy slice of bread with cold tea. 'What the fuck is floating in the tea?' It was a milky-looking substance. The thought that came to her made her gag. But she quickly put it out of her mind. Bellatrix knew she had to eat. She couldn't afford to lose her strength, who knew when her next meal was going to be? She did, however, use a wandless spell to clean up the bread, taking as much mould out of it as she could, and the tea, making sure none of the white stuff remained. Then she ate, slowly at first but it was disgusting, someone had added something to the eggs and the bread was even mouldier than expected, so she ate what was left as quickly as possible.

Once finished Bellatrix lowered herself back down and crawled in between the wall and get bed desperate to get an escape plan together.

__________

She woke up around noon. Fuck. She had gotten nothing done. Bellatrix was mad at her exhausted body, she would rest when she had escaped, or was dead. Pulling at her hair in frustration, she attempted to get her mind back on track. It wasn't very long until she heard the door crack open. Those sick fucks were back for more.

She let herself peek over the bed to see who it was. There wasn't anyone in the room with her. The witch then peered around the corner of the bed and frowned. A cloth was making its way across the room, walking on its corners as if they were legs. Her narrowed eyes widened as she saw a darkened wet area. She remembered the chloroform used by Lucius a couple of days ago. She slowly and quietly crawled back into her corner, knowing that it would be better she not waste energy, and hoping the enchantment on the cloth wasn't well cast.

Bella kept her eyes peeled for the thing and tried again to think of an escape plan. Unfortunately most plausible ideas required time. With good enchantments and the multitude of Death Eaters she needed to learn their everyday schedule. Her thoughts were interrupted as the cloth jumped down from the bed towards her face. She managed to avoid getting smothered by it by jerking her head into the wall, but it landed on her chest. She did not have any room to move, she clawed at it but it was surprisingly resilient. Using the wall, she got up and started furiously clawing at the cloth trying to push it down, trying not to fall over. But, of course, she did fall but not before finally managing to rip it off her.

Bella crawled back into the wall as the cloth came towards her. It's starting climbing up her broken leg so she could not trash about. She was stunned at how tightly the cloth could hold on to bare skin and started pulling at it as it moved up her body. Her panic increased when it reached her chest and she couldn't even make it budge. She felt it slither up her neck, and clamp down on her lower jaw. She sucked in one last breath as the cloth finished covering her mouth and nose.

As Bellatrix tried clawing the cloth off, she summoned up strength to make a large amount of magic to flow into the cloth hoping to disrupt the spell enchanting it. It didn't work, its grip grew stronger and she was running out of air. The sickening sweetness overwhelmed her as she gasped for breath. It didn't take long, she felt her body grow numb and her hands slipped from the cloth. Her eyes closed as her body leaned sideways and hit the floor. She was sure that whatever situation she would be in when she woke up it would not be pleasant.

__________

Bellatrix awoke and was immediately aware that her jaw was propped open uncomfortably and she was drooling everywhere. She had been placed on her knees and her hands tied behind her to the bedpost. She was still feeling the effects of the chloroform and was slightly glad for it as it kept her from feeling too much pain in her broken leg.

"Good you're awake."

Bellatrix looked towards the speaker. It was Lucy, naked from the waist down and grinning happily. She only glared back, trying to bore holes through him with her ferocity.

"Sorry about the gag, I didn't want you to bite. Although I must say, you look good in it."

It was a dental gag, meant to keep her mouth open and clear. Judging for her position it was obvious what he was going to do. She was infuriated, but she had consigned herself to it. She needed time to escape, time she didn't have if she fought back.

Lucius approached her and grabbed her hair before sliding his cock into her mouth. Her immediate reflex was gagging at the foreign body. Lucius had been right to gag her. It would have been wonderful to bite through and watch him bleed, probably scream too. He was a sissy as soon as he was at a slight disadvantage.

Bella shuddered, disgusted as Lucius groaned in pleasure. She strained slightly against her bonds. The man's thrusts were making it difficult to stay on her knees, each one sending shooting pains up through her leg into her back. She tried moving her jaw, hoping to dislodge the gag. Unfortunately it seemed to stimulate him more, making her gag once again. She didn't struggle anymore, again, she needed to bide her time. It didn't help the repugnant situation right now.

Bellatrix was humiliated and filled with anger to this man. Never liked him. He was a slimy coward who treated everyone he could like crap. Unfortunately even his wife, her wonderful sister, who could have done so much had been compressed by this man. This asshole had even twisted their child into a monster, one only now superficially resembling her sister. She used to protect her sister… And now she was the one in need of help. But she had no one, only her baby sister who was probably in a similar situation. In that moment, she felt hopeless.

As rebellious tears started to pour down her face, she heard the blonde man laugh and say; "Good bitch, now you know that you are a whore, finally in her place."

He shoved his cock deeper into her throat. Blocking her airway. He didn't pull out, enjoying her panicked efforts to try and breathe again. Her pain faded as the need to breath became more important and she lifted herself up and pulled at her bonds, but she was stuck. Bellatrix then had an idea, she let herself collapse. It worked, he slid out of her and she took in furious gasping breaths, dizzy and in pain, but breathing. She gasped as Lucius grabbed her chin, wrenched her up and shoved back inside her mouth, growling.

A of couple more swear words and a few more thrust and the fucker was coming. It was finally done but she felt little relief, just dirty. Saliva and cum were dripping down her front. Bellatrix embarrassingly slumped over as Lucius dressed himself. She rested her eyes, hoping he would untie her and she could just sleep it away. He didn't untie her, although he did take the gag, she didn't struggle, it was nice having that thing out.

__________

Lucius left the room a little angry but mostly satisfied. It would have been more satisfying if he had killed her, but the Dark Lord didn't want her dead, yet. He stretched out a bit before an idea sprung to mind, he should get Draco. But before he did that he should restrain Bellatrix better. As he expected, he found her struggling against her bonds. Unfortunately this would not be easy, he had taken the gag out and she now had a defence.

As expected she growled and snapped at him as he approached. He pulled the vial out of his robe. It was an anesthetic, a potion which would knock her out, then keep her docile for a good while. Dodging snaps at his hand, he grabbed the woman's jaw and pried it open. He quickly poured the contents in her mouth and dropped the now empty container. Lucius tipped her head back and rubbed her throat before she could spit it out. With a bit of twisting she did swallow the liquid and pass out. He smiled, _'good'._

"Draco."

His son looked up from his reading material. A letter from Hogwarts, probably his class and materials list.

"I imagine you are aware of the situation your aunt finds herself in?" His son nodded. "Would you like some time with her?"

Draco's eyes widened slowly at the realization of what his father was implying. The boy seemed to think a little before slowly nodding. Lucius hid a smirk.

"Follow me?"

Still hesitant, Draco put what he was doing down and slowly followed his father to his aunt's room. As Lucius opened the door, he could see the boy was hesitant as Draco looked at the exposed fresh bite marks on his hand.

"Don't worry if she wakes up. The potion I gave her will keep her so groggy she won't be able to fight back."

They entered the room and Draco hesitantly approached the naked woman on the floor. She was kneeling, the position looked painful, sitting on a broken leg with her arms tied behind her back to the bedpost. She was surprisingly beautiful even now. He felt himself swell.

Personally he didn't have much of a problem with her, she hadn't been a good aunt but she never targeted him. On the other hand, he was angered by this woman for having demeaned all the Death Eaters. His father had been a target of her rage many times and he hated that. But now, all was good, the woman was finally getting what she deserved.

Draco approached his aunt and untied her arms, his father frowned but Draco didn't want her on her knees. He pulled on her legs to lay her on her back and he tied her hands to the foot of the bed. Then he unbuckled his pants and dropped to his knees in between his aunt's legs, grabbed her and entered her harshly, smiling.

__________

Lucius shut the door when he knew his son was not going to back out. He smiled, he was proud of Draco in many ways, he was definitely his boy.

Now he returned to his waiting wife. She had been crying all day and he was anxious to get a turn with her too. Now she was a compliant woman who would scream when she was hurt. It was delicious.

**Day 4ish-9ish**

How long had she been locked up? Bella barely opened her eyes before closing them. She was under her bed, not really hiding, they would easily find her here. Although comforting in a way. She didn't have a clock. She had tried counting the sunrises, then she sunsets. But truth was she was confused, she slept most of the time and had no way of knowing if she had missed a sunrise, same for the sunsets. She could have counted her meals, it seemed like she was fed once a day, but she couldn't know for sure.

From the start it had been the same routine; bad food followed by sexual assault of every kind mixed in with physical abuse. After having used the cloth once, it seemed that they decided that it made her too agitated, they gave her a potion instead. She was drugged often, mostly to change her position without her attacking them. Tied to the bed, hanging off of it, fuck even levitating. When you've got a group of over a hundred maniacs, there isn't much they won't think of.

Although, the abuse never got too bad, it was obvious the Dark Lord wanted her alive for now. Nevertheless Bellatrix did feel her strength being drained, not just from her body but from her soul too. She knew she deserved this. Sighing the woman painfully moved out from under the bed to lie on the mattress, she had gotten stiff from the cold floor. She looked at the neat clean bed which contrasted how she felt inside.

She had found out it was the Malfoy elf, Nixy, who came in every day to release her bonds, give her water, clean up and sooth her with ineffective potions, probably all she was allowed to use. Nixy also bathed her from time to time, for this she was grateful. At one point she did recall that she had told Nixy about the potions in her wardrobe and telling her to only use them when it was really needed. She actually did remember Nixy giving her contraceptives a couple times, she never needed the sleeping potions though. They did argue over the healing potions, Nixy really wanted her to be healthy, Bellatrix had always been kind to her. It was ridiculous really, she could murder people by the hundreds yet couldn't even yell at an elf. Nixy wanted her to take one of the potions several days ago, but she had told the elf to keep them until she needed them. Nixy agreed that day, but each time she came to visit she always tried to give her one.

But one day she had been unable to refuse the elf. Bellatrix had been gang raped again which had resulted in bleeding in every orifice she had, from penetration or blows. For some reason, perhaps her body was tired, her wounds wouldn't cloth. She had bled for hours before she had allowed Nixy to give her a healing potion. She did feel better, even her leg, now healed in a twisted position was bothering her less. Although she was horrified, she knew she would probably need those potions when the time came to face the Dark Lord. She knew it was coming and it would be worse than anything, albeit it would be physical and psychological, not sexual.

Bellatrix groaned. Someone was moving her. Shit, she had soiled herself again. Unfortunately it wasn't Nixy cleaning her, but another Death Eater. A low ranking one, she didn't even know his name. She didn't want to let him know she was conscious so she let herself be manhandled. It was both embarrassing and essential. Her strength was draining and she had not been able to come up with any sort of plan. Once she did, if she did, she needed to be able to execute it.

When the man left, Bellatrix drank out of the glass of water and lay back down. She knew she was lying to herself. Her knife was still under her pillow, she told herself it would be to help her escape, truth was she was so weak she couldn't harm anyone with it. Saving her strength had become synonymous with regaining it. She was mentally exhausted too. She knew she deserved this. She knew escape was near impossible. She knew if she managed the near impossible she would be running away back to Azkaban. But she also knew that dying was out of the question, she still had one person to live for, her little sister, who was also locked up. She could hear Cissy's screams. So Bellatrix decided, if she could escape, she would save Cissy, then kill herself. Their dear sister Andromeda would surely take Narcissa in, but never Bellatrix, and she would rather die before going back to Azkaban.

_Day 10_

Bellatrix closed her eyes and wished the image away. She knew this was coming, that she had had it easy so far. Her eyes snapped open as she felt herself become weightless. The woman looked to the creature that now only vaguely resembled a man as he started to walk away from the door into the hallway. She remained still and quiet, still curled up on her side, during the walk through the hallways and down to the first floor of the Manor into the dining room where a crowd of curious Death Eaters had gathered.

The table had been removed, he wanted to put on a spectacle. A warning to all others who would defy him. In all honestly, her soul was tired but, discounting her leg, she was only lightly scratched and bruised. A perfect canvas to paint in purple, blue, yellow, green and red.

The Dark Lord ended the levitation spell and dropped Bellatrix on the ground. The woman let out a whoosh of air on impact as her body uncurled on the floor. She remained still as she waited for whatever was to come.

"What made you think you could defy me?" Their leader asked, seemingly very calm.

Bellatrix kept quiet. She supposed the others may be wondering how she had defied their master, but she was sure they were happy to get rid of her. She, on the other hand, knew. It was normal for her to lash out at another Death Eater. However she had never let her feelings of guilt, sadness and anger overpower her. The wave of emotions was so strong it had flooded past her mental barriers where the Dark Lord could see them. Those emotions were more damning than any act of defiance on her part.

"Answer me!"

She gasped and felt her body clench up as the familiar pain of the Cruciatus Curse overtook her. The woman couldn't think, feeling the pain was all her body could do at that moment. The curse was lifted not too long after, he wanted her coherent for the moment. Bellatrix tried to quickly come up with an answer as she relaxed her body, preparing it for the coming round. Perhaps he really did want an answer, perhaps he only wanted to frighten the others, either way, she needed to answer. Bellatrix didn't even know herself if there was one single thing she could say. She truly didn't know the truth and she couldn't lie to appease him as he would know it was a fabrication.

In that moment Bellatrix decided she wanted to die as her life's circumstances were insurmountable. It would do her no good to fight on, she had nothing. So she told the only truth she could tell;

"Unlike you," Bellatrix managed between quick shallow breaths, "I'm surprisingly still human."

The being's face suddenly twisted. It was evident the Dark Lord was angry, it was rolling off him in waves. He pointed his wand at her and shot a curse which hit her. She was expecting the Cruciatus Curse again, but it was a modified Flagrante Curse. Burning her skin, only her skin. She whispered a little bit as she felt her skin burn and start to bubble. The curse matched his temper perfectly. Why had she ever joined them?

A scream grounded her to the real world. It was Narcissa. No, they had dragged her here. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping Cissy wasn't really there. But she heard her start to sob. They were forcing her to watch. And Bellatrix must have looked as bad as she felt. Her skin reddened from the burns with yellow blisters that had started to burst. Finally, the spell ended just before the burns could reach deeper than her skin. The Dark Lord was no fool, her current burns may not look as horrid as when the skin was charred black, but blistered burns were the most painful type of burn, the nerve endings still being intact.

Somehow she had ended up on her back during the spell, panting. Her body still felt like it was on fire, and she was certainly losing fluid. Disoriented, Bellatrix still managed to turn her head to look towards the source of the cries. Narcissa looked better fed than herself yet she was also covered in bruises. They must have brought Cissy down to taunt her. 'Your beloved sister will never be there for you again. Look at how she has been broken.'

"Crucio." The Dark Lord had calmed down and seemed to have decided to enjoy the moment.

Bellatrix broke eye contact with her sister as her body trembled with the pain inflicted. A loud gasped punctuated the end of that curse.

The next one was stronger and she hissed in pain. Her body felt like it was on fire, with broken bones and regular beatings coming at her full swing. She tried to ground herself, she couldn't show weakness, but it seemed as if she was the only one in the room, floating in a bubble of pain.

The spell ended, her breathing was laboured and she felt dizzy. As her ears stopped buzzing she could once again hear her sister's cries, now seemingly muffled, and see the monstrous man above her. His face was neutral but his eyes gleamed with sadism. She watched him raise his wand and her tired body let out a yelp as an even more powerful crucio hit her. Was it really more powerful, or was her will being sucked out of her? Or both.

Bellatrix needed to scream, but she wouldn't, couldn't. She mustered up her strength and forced her body onto its side. This caused a yell to wrench itself free as the burnt skin of her back peeled off. The Cruciatus Curse stopped shortly after, quickly followed by another. The pain made her twist and her arms and legs degloved. The scream built inside and she looked to her sister for support, and she found it. She managed to suppress all but the tiniest hint of emotion in herself as she watched her quietly crying sister's eyes urge her on.

This obviously did not please the Dark Lord, who, once his Cruciatus was lifted, seemed to communicate telepathically with Dolohov. Then the bastard smiled. He grabbed Narcissa's hair and pulled her up roughly, he shot a malicious smile towards Bellatrix before throwing Narcissa to the ground. Pulling her skirt up and his trousers down before forcing himself on her.

"CISSY!"

Bellatrix tried to crawl towards her sister, who was now fighting back hitting Dolohov. Exhausted and missing most of her skin, Bellatrix didn't get very far. She had to watch as a second Death Eater pinned Narcissa down. This time Bellatrix couldn't help but cry.

The Dark Lord paced around her, lost in thought. Bellatrix felt him enter her mind. In that moment she was glad she had spent so much time on Occlumency. In such a weak state only her strongest feeling, pain, was breaking through her walls. She didn't want him seeing he had won, even now.

All she could think was. "If I die, they will have no reason to harm Cissy."

As a crying Bellatrix watched Dolohov cum inside a struggling Narcissa a booted foot pressed itself into her shoulder. It forced her onto her back, peeling some of her skin off. She gritted her teeth from the pain and felt two of her molars cracked from the force as the Dark Lord tried harder to get into her mind. She couldn't give up, she may want to die, but he would not have the satisfaction of seeing her broken.

He looked in her eyes as he calmly said: "Crucio."

The pain was great and caused a few more tears to trickle out. She felt more of her teeth crack because she wouldn't open her mouth to scream, or even spit out the blood and pieces of bone.

As Bellatrix was released from the spell she noticed she couldn't hear Narcissa anymore. Hopefully that meant they were finished with her. Bellatrix relaxed back into the floor, closing her eyes. She was dizzy, feeling faint, a result of the burns no doubt. She would die from them soon. She heard her old master walk around her, probably watching her. Enjoying watching her die. She lost her vision and her body weakened even further.

Then the oddest thing happened, she received relief, her pain lessened and her skin grew back. Unfortunately this just meant the Dark Lord wasn't done with her yet.

A voice echoed in her head; "You do well with expected pain…" and faded out.

A sharp pain sliced through her stomach. Bellatrix, startled, brought her hands to her abdomen where she could feel a half an inch deep slash. As soon as her hands touched the gash a new one appeared across the backs of her hands. It was painful, but nothing she couldn't handle. Bellatrix curled onto her side and waited for the next blow. It didn't come, remaining still she waited a little bit longer. Finally, she let her body relax a little. It was so quiet, she would have thought the Dark Lord had left, but none of the other Death Eaters had moved nor said a word. Yet still, nothing and unconsciously her body fully relaxed.

She gasped as three more sharp pains came, in quick succession. Her right thigh, left upper arm and the bottom of her left foot all were cut deeply. Again the pain wasn't great, but it startled her. She clenched her teeth and waited for another round, which didn't come. So Bellatrix prepared to wait as long as the previous wait. Although, she didn't need to wait that long, another barrage of cuts appeared on her body. The pain was starting to add up and it was magnified by the uncertainty of when the next blows would come as the irregular cycle was repeated.

This went on for a while and she was weakening from blood. As the blows came, staggered, random, painful, she all she could think was; this was life. It was mimicking life exactly, it hurt and any happiness was fleeting, impermanent. And that was it, she closed her eyes and let herself float off.

Her eyes slowly opened as she felt her name being said. She didn't hear it, she felt it. Her eyes fixed themselves to the corner of the room. In front of the watching Death Eaters was a long shadow, not touching the floor but the top of it was not higher than any of the standing men. They didn't seem to notice it.

Normally black spectres are something to be wary of, they were evil. But this one was off somehow. Like its source was earthly instead of otherworldly. It didn't speak, yet it seemed to be trying to convey a message. It was comforting. Soothing. Then it seemed to push her to stay awake, to stay in this world. Images of both her sisters flashed by. It seemed to say you still have something to live for, stay.

As if it sensed Bellatrix reluctance, one sentence emanated from the spectre; _Stay, for me?_

For some unknown reason this convinced Bellatrix to fight. She did not know who this was, one of her sisters, someone she knew, or not. But this strengthened her.

Voldemort lowered his wand as he saw the woman give in and start to die. Good riddance. He started to turn away, but noticed then a flicker of movement behind Bellatrix's eyelids. Waiting, the former lieutenant finally opened her eyes, though it didn't seem like her consciousness was in the room. It took a while before she seemed to return to the room, he then made sure he had her full attention before speaking;

"Now, ...Bella." He gritted her name out with poison in his tone. "Are you going to come back to us? Or are you going to die, painfully and slowly."

Bellatrix lay panting, her eyes closed. She wanted to say she would join them again, it was so tempting. But as she opened her eyes again, saw the benevolent shadow and heard her sister's quiet sobs echoing in her head, she knew she had to say no. So she mustered her leftover strength to say:

"Go to hell."

The Dark Lord looked at the bloody mess on the floor. He upheld his decision. This _thing_ would never serve him again. He addressed the gathering of Death Eaters;

"Do what you will with her. I don't care if she lives or dies."

The Dark Lord moved to exit but wavered as a burning sensation swept through him. Then he was seething; someone had just destroyed one of his horcruxes. He turned around violently and his wand swung up. He brought it down sharply towards the beige and red being on the floor. They heard a crack as the invisible whip hit the unmoving woman. A small intake of breath was the only proof the woman had felt the blow. But Voldemort didn't care if he had hit her or someone, he was angry and needed to harm. With blow after blow her transferred his anger unto her. As he calmed down, he thought of something important. The chances of Bellatrix escaping were slim to none, but he had not risen to power by taking unnecessary chances. And she knew the location of Ironstone. If she could give that away his troops it would be a major blow to his operation.

He forced himself into her mind, delighted to finally hear her scream, but frustrated beyond measure at the strong defences around her mind. One strong push finally broke down one wall. This wall had been blocking the memories of her time with the Death Eaters. Perfect. He could feel his own strength draining from the energy required to stay in this powerful woman's mind, so he didn't want to knock down too many walls. There he found those pertaining to Ironstone, and wiped them.

Satisfied he pulled out of her mind. Only then did Bellatrix stop screaming in pain. She lay limp. Voldemort smiled and finally moved to leave the dining room. Although as he left he had an idea. He paused and turning around he added;

"Let Wormtail have his turn next."

"What? Why?" Robias Finkle couldn't help but blurt out aghast.

The Dark Lord didn't answer but directed his gaze to the semi-conscious woman. No, he didn't care who had his way with her but he knew this would be particularly unpleasant for his ex-lieutenant. She had just been tortured for 4 hours, yet the woman was still capable of showing her disgust for the little man.

All present Death Eaters turned to look at Bellatrix. It was obvious she had heard the previous statement even in her state. Her face was twisted in an expression that showed complete revulsion. And to be honest, most of the Death Eaters felt that way when it came to the pathetic fool.

'Well, at least we had our turn first.' Finkle thought as he followed the others out of the room. He stopped in his tracks when he heard quiet crying. Frowning he turned to look at Bellatrix, she was never one to show emotion no matter the situation.

He was disappointed to find out it was only Malfoy's slut, she was being dragged out of the room by her husband. Mmm, he had thought she had been removed from the room earlier as her screams had been distracting to the Dark Lord. Oh, well.

__________

All the Death Eaters ran out of the room, no one wanted to see Wormtail even close to naked. All but Wormtail of course. He thanked his master in that grovelling way of his and approached the bloodied woman on the floor.

Bellatrix closed her eyes, and attempted to meditate, not wanting to see, hear or feel what was coming next. Yet she believed she may have passed out instead as the next thing she knew he was also naked. Thankfully he didn't seem to realize or care about that. He would henceforth not use a spell to keep her awake. He just wanted a fuck toy. He grabbed her legs and slowly turned her over onto her front and her empty stomach heaved at the movement. He smelled like urine and something that had been locked away too long. Bellatrix tried harder to shut the world out as she could hear him panting already. She was brought back to reality as the vile little man thrust into her anus. Yes, it was painful, but nothing really. Truth was, it only made her feel like dirt, which was slightly better than regretting her existence.

She felt her stomach heave again as the grunts of the repugnant man became louder. She thought of her treehouse and tried to think of every detail of the area; in a little clearing behind Black manor, stood a sessile oak, visible only as run down planks to all but her sisters, but inside…..

Bellatrix woke, pushing the blackness away. She regretted it as soon as she heard Wormtail orgasm. Her stomach heaved uncontrollably and what little bile she had come up. She didn't even have the strength to lift her head out of it. Then she gasped and aspirated some of the foul liquid as the awful little man fell on top of her. She couldn't get out from under him, and she allowed herself a few tears at how far she had fallen.

__________

It had been an hour since Nixy had seen the Dark Lord carry Mistress Bellatrix to the Great Hall. The elf was pacing in the kitchen ignoring the hustle and bustle of the other elves who were preparing food for the Death Eaters. She wrung her hands together. She wanted to go check on Mistress Narcissa's sister, but, while Master Lucius had not specified so, she was probably not welcome.

Nixy looked back up to the clock. A little over two hours had gone by. Nixy jumped, now knew that Mistress Narcissa was being hurt as well. Nixy pulled on her ears and held back a sob, ignoring the urge to go help her kind mistresses.

Finally, after four hours she was called to Mistress Narcissa's side. The blonde woman didn't answer Nixy's questions about her wounds but seemed grateful to the elf for the soothing treatment.

"Please."

Nixy's large brown orbs looked into her mistress's blue eyes.

"Please go tend to my sister."

Nixy gently squeezed the witch's hands, making sure she would be alright, before heading down to the great hall. Apparating in the hallway next to the side door of the Great Hall. Nixy peeked cautiously through the door trying to avoid detection in case there were Death Eaters nearby. She spotted only two figures in the hall itself, both on the floor. She slipped inside just as a Death Eater rounded the corner.

Looking around nervously, Nixy quickly and silently approached the figures. Mistress Bellatrix was under the man everyone seemed to hate. Nixy levitated him off of Mistress Bellatrix and shuddered as she saw the man's penis exit the woman's body. She left the man on the floor and walked over to Mistress Bella, placing her hand the woman, she apparated them to the room turned cell.

In the room, Nixy laid Mistress on the floor and used her elven magic to heal the superficial wounds. It was not ideal, but the bleeding stopped. The cruciatus curse leaves no marks and her burns had been healed but the spells had obviously left Mistress Bellatrix exhausted and with lingering pain. The elf took a warm wet cloth and took her time cleaning the woman, also trying to rub the tension out of her muscles. Mistress Bellatrix's eyes were open but unseeing, stuck in her own mind, she didn't acknowledge the elf or her treatment in any way. Nixy went over to the wardrobe and opened the secret compartment reaching for the healing potion.

Nixy stilled as she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. She closed the wardrobe carefully as the voices stopped at the door. As the door started to creak open, Nixy stole one more glance at her Master's sister in-law and disapparated before she was spotted.

__________

Crabbe and Goyle were home walking around Malfoy manor. Now that they were done their summer homework their fathers had allowed them to come here to join the Death Eaters in their activities. They weren't sworn in yet, they had to wait for their seventeenth birthday, but that didn't mean they couldn't observe and learn.

Unfortunately they had arrived too late to witness the Dark Lord torture Bellatrix. So they set out in search of muggles. The sun had already set and it was perfect to go to the nearby village of Barchester.

Unfortunately just as they were about to leave the grounds Vincent's father called them back. The boys, frustrated, grit their teeth and stomped back to the manor. One look from Crabbe Senior did nip that attitude in the bud.

"We are heading out." Crabbe Sr. stated, the boys knew from the start they weren't invited. "You are to stay here. Do _not_ leave the premises."

Reluctantly the boys stepped back inside. Instead of watching the older men leave, they went upstairs. Their discussion quickly turned to their frustration.

_Stupid_

_Useless_

_Pigs_

_Illiterates_

_Ingrates_

That was what everyone seemed to believe they were. They couldn't understand why.

The boys stopped as they realized where their ramblings had taken them. They looked to each other, both coming to the same conclusion. They cracked the door open and peeked in, no one was there. They smirked and entered.

**End of Day 10 and early Day 11**

They spotted an exhausted Bellatrix between the far wall and the bed.

"Hey!" Goyle exclaimed, trying to rouse the woman at the other end of the room. Neither boy wanted to chance fighting Bellatrix.

They walked carefully towards Bellatrix. They relaxed as they saw Bellatrix, unmoving, eyes open. The woman was dead.

Crabbe kicked the woman's good leg. "You fucking useless cow."

Goyle, on the other side of the woman, smirked and imitated his companion, kicking Bellatrix in the back. Both teenagers laughed as the tension in them was transferred to the body below them. Their blows quickened and hardened and they also started to stomp on the woman. As they screamed obscenities at the dead woman, Goyle dropped to his knees and started to smash the woman's face.

Goyle stopped his punches as he believed to have heard something. As Crabbe continued his assault on the woman's lower body. A gurgle, than blood, came out of the woman's mouth. Goyle's eyes widened and he stammered as he quickly jumped up and backed away from Bellatrix hitting the wall. His companion looked at him confused.

"She not dead!" he squeaked.

Crabbe started and they both looked down at the woman who was now furiously blinking her eyes trying to get the spat out blood out of her eyes. The boys squealed and ran out of the room, heading to their own quarters.

__________

Nixy had gone back to Mistress Narcissa when she was forced to leave Mistress Bellatrix. She had found the blonde witch curled up at the bay window.

"Is she alive?"

Nixy nodded and held out her hand to the woman.

"How bad was it?"

Nixy didn't know how to answer, though it seemed her silence conveyed all that was necessary. Mistress Narcissa sighed and squeezed the offered hand.

"Thank you Nixy."

Nixy teared up and asked, "Can Nixy do anything else for Mistress?"

Narcissa shook her head. "Nothing now, please come back in the morning."

Nixy acquiesced and left the room and Narcissa turned back to the window, dreading her husband's return.

__________

Nixy went to Mistress Bellatrix's room next to see if she was alone once more.

She was, but Nixy squeaked at the sight it front of her. The witch was in just as bad a shape as when she was recovered in the Great Hall. Stumbling over Nixy started to diminish the bruising on her back. Nixy turned Mistress Bellatrix on her back and moved her hands across her body, diagnosing which bones were broken. Three broken ribs, both legs were now broken, a broken left ulna, hairline hip fracture, miscellaneous broken fingers, a broken nose and a broken orbital. Nixy carefully lined up and set the broken bones, hoping there was no major internal bleeding. There was no swelling or hard spots so the elf was hopeful. Once everything was in place, Nixy went to get the healing potion, a contraceptive potion and some water.

She first poured the healing potion down Mistress Bellatrix's throat, hoping it would be effective against such severe injuries. Next the contraceptive, Nixy knew that if the witch were to survive she would not want a child from one of _them_. Finally, the water, it was needed. She would come by again before sunrise to give her more water. Nixy tucked a blanket around the witch on the floor, not wanting to move her, and stared.

The elf was saddened, this was all she could do. Mistress Bellatrix would probably not survive the night.

__________

Bellatrix opened her eyes, she was in her treehouse with her sisters. Having tea and laughing with them. The elder sibling took the time to trace the features of her sisters with her eyes. Andromeda, second born, with curled brown hair and soft brown eyes. Always open-minded and loyal to the people she considered family. Narcissa, last born, with wavy blonde hair and blue eyes. A very sweet girl who could always see the good in any situation. She could not seem to tell what was being said, but she was happy.

But it didn't last as the floor below them gave out and both eldest and youngest fell. Bellatrix managed to grab on to a branch several feet below the leftover treehouse with her right hand. She looked down to see that she had somehow managed to catch Narcissa before she fell into the white abyss below them. Narcissa looked absolutely terrified as she tried to grab on to Bella's forearm. Above them Andromeda was yelling words of encouragement, telling Bellatrix to lift Narcissa up to her.

Bellatrix struggled but managed to lift Cissy up to chest height. She gasped and Narcissa screamed as her grip on the branch slipped and she nearly dropped her sister. Andromeda sobbed out; "You can do it!"

Bellatrix looked back up and her eyes connected with her look alike. It gave her just enough energy to lift Cissy up. Bellatrix was relieved when she felt Narcissa being lifted out of her arms back into the treehouse.

Bellatrix was exhausted and she looked back up to her sisters. The look on her face compelled Andromeda to whisper. "Please don't"

Bellatrix felt the muscles tremble in her arms and felt the desire to let go as she looked down into the whiteness.

"Come back to us." Andromeda pleaded as she stretched her arm out towards her older sister. Narcissa sat next to her, scared but eager to offer help.

After hesitating one last time, Bellatrix reached out to her sisters.

**Day 12**

Bellatrix slowly opened her eyes and quickly shut them against the brightness of the room. She was in pain; no part of her body was exempt of it. Yet she felt more aware than she had been for days. Her first thoughts went out to her sisters, wondering where they were and if they were alright. The next pertained to escape. Did she want to escape? Would she rather die here or die in Azkaban? But if she died here what would happen to Narcissa? Would they kill her too? Probably. And is Andromeda safe? Perhaps now but if the Dark Lord succeeds she won't be. And isn't life about caring for your relatives? Bellatrix decided to live another day, a Dementor's Kiss was preferable to dying here if it meant her sisters would be safe.

Once her eyes got accustomed to the early morning light, she realized she could see properly again. She opened and closed her mouth, testing her ability to move, then her fingers. Bellatrix hissed as she felt a few of her fingers were broken. Her feet were fine; her left arm was broken tough. She attempted to sit up but was unable to do so as pain from broken ribs shot through her body. Her right leg was still jelly, and her left tibia was broken, but she imagined she could still stand on it if need be.

Bellatrix was still content with her physical condition, as bad as it was, everything still worked and her senses were sharp. Those fools mustn't have drugged her at all last night, probably guessing that her crippled body would be enough to keep her in line. She'd be stupid not to take advantage of that. Stretching her aching body from a hard night on the floor, Bellatrix started thinking about an escape plan.

Doors and windows were obviously still locked, and even if they weren't, she wouldn't get very far in her condition…

The doorknob jiggled.

Bellatrix closed her eyes and relaxed, grateful she hadn't moved the blanket off of her. It must have been Gibbon, bringing her her food. A tray was set on the desk, and she heard footsteps comings towards her. Bellatrix braced herself but a: "Gibbon!" was heard coming from the other side of the hallway. Gibbon scrambled to leave the room.

A large sigh escaped Bella when she heard the door close and she opened her eyes. Turning her head, she scanned the room. She frowned when she saw the door, something was up. She might have a chance. He may have forgotten to lock the door and there wouldn't be a lot of people in the hallways this early in the morning.

Bellatrix took a deep breath and braced herself as she started to turn herself onto her hands and knees. She whimpered as her weight settled into her strained limbs. She crawled to her bed, she could manage weight on her left leg but her right leg was jello. As she moved her foot would catch on a ridge in the carpet and stretch the bottom section until it couldn't stretch anymore.

Each time it sprang back it drew a whimper from the woman. The dark witch grabbed her bed's bottom sheet and pulled it, the other sheets, the pillows and finally the knife which was hidden under them. Already exhausted she partly collapsed onto the pile of bedding with her knife in hand. After a brief rest, the witch tore into the sheet with her dagger, cutting it into a long strip.

She had to pick up her lower leg to tie it to her swollen, but intact, upper leg. Bellatrix prepared herself.

_'One, two, three…'_

Between the pain in her leg, her broken fingers and her torso keeping her in a sitting position, she needed to bite down on her lip to keep quiet. It drew blood and the new pain distracted her from the old. Bellatrix quickly tied her leg and suck in a deep breath once done. Now, it was time to get up, she would move faster that way.

Using the bed to painfully haul herself to her feet, or foot. She noticed a glass of water on the nightstand. It may delay her, but she decided that it may be best to drink all of it. Bellatrix then noted that the early morning had faded to late morning. People will have started moving about. It was time to go.

In pain, naked and hopping ridiculously, she made it to the door carrying only her dagger. She closed her eyes and slowly put her hand on the doorknob wary of the normal protective spells. Bellatrix sighed in relief as no spells were activated and proceeded to slowly turn it. She smiled as it gave way, and she quietly opened the door. Peeking into the hallway, she was glad to see no one was around and absolutely stunned to see her emergency bag as well as her wand just sitting on a small table across from her bedroom. Stupid mistake on their part, a stroke of luck for her. She stuck her dagger in the bag, preferring to use her wand to escape. She hadn't been detected yet, but she knew it would happen, jumping on one foot is not exactly quiet.

To avoid collapsing from the pain, Bellatrix pointed her wand towards the back of her neck. A blue jet sparked onto her neck and crackled out. The spell was meant to interfere with the nerves that detect pain without deactivating the controlling nerves. Feeling countless times better Bellatrix mentally prepared herself to hop through the corridors as fast as she could. She was regretting having chosen a room on the periphery of the building away from the main staircase.

She hurried through the first hallway towards the front of the building. She made it to the end before hearing fast footsteps behind her. Turning the corner, she could see the grand staircase in front of her and soon heard exclamations near, what she assumed to be, her room. As Bellatrix got to the staircase, she decided to slide down the bannister as the footsteps rounded the corner. Her landing, or rather fall from the bannister, made her grimace, not from pain, but from the loud crunch she heard from her broken left arm, supporting her weight during the slide and her supporting leg.

Bellatrix was relieved as she finally entered the only section of the Manor one could disapparate from; the main entrance. She had thought about going to hide in the forest of Dean, her mine, her treehouse… But as she prepared to disapparate, a vision flashed before her eyes.

A short redhead spoke to her, "You can always come to me when you need help."

An old friend had once offered her help, and she had taken it before. But now who knew if the offer still stood? It was a long time ago, before this madness. Well, better to die there than here. She chanced one more look upwards towards where her sister was, she knew she was in no shape to bring Narcissa with her at the moment. She would be back to get her once healed if Narcissa didn't escape before then. Bellatrix knew her sister was strong and intelligent, but the fear for her son kept her here. Judging by what Draco did not long ago, Narcissa, even as a mother should give up on him soon.

Breaking out of her reverie as she saw her pursuers running down the staircase, Bellatrix awkwardly twisted with her good leg, the sensation of apparition taking over just as Lucius, Dolohov and Rodolphus reached the ground level, wands out. She felt a small sense of satisfaction at the looks of anger on their faces and how they, and the lights of their spells, blurred away.

__________

Bellatrix cried out for the first time in days as she landed roughly on the ground. She slowly got onto her hands and knees, wiping the mud from her face. The cool rain pouring down to earth was soothing as it caressed her wounds. Safe now, she paused and took a few breaths, shaking as she allowed herself to sob.

She wasn't sure how long she had been there, but the cold soon brought her back to earth. She debated getting up. But the pain spell was wearing off and she couldn't cast it again for fear of damaging her nerves permanently. As wave after wave of pain spread through her, Bellatrix took a couple of gasping breaths before her limbs finished giving out and she collapsed to the ground.

__________

Bellatrix sputtered awake and coughed up the water she had inhaled. The rain had continued on into the late evening, she was lying in a pool of water and could see the sun slip down into the horizon. Still on her hands and knees, she looked around, hoping to see an artificial light. She spotted it a little to her left and it was much closer than she expected. She started crawling towards it. Her limbs ached and sunk in the mud, and the grass was long grazing her body but also allowing her to grab onto them and pull her way towards the light.

As she moved towards the house, Bellatrix's stomach clenched as she thought about its occupants. She thought of days spent playing with her old friend. And of days fighting against her. As the door to the house came into sight, the dark witch caught herself praying that they would accept her back amongst them, and that if they didn't, that they would kill her quickly. She would not go to Azkaban again.

She crawled up the few steps, painting them red with her blood as she barely managed to get to the porch. Bellatrix had to pause there as her heart beat wildly and she was exhausted. She attempted to breathe more calmly, but the pain from her broken ribs only made for short quick breaths. She felt herself rapidly growing dizzy and feared losing consciousness before having drawn attention to herself. She wouldn't last the night.

Mustering up her strength, she got up, balancing on her left leg. The woman went to knock on the door but instead collapsed against it as her vision started to fade. She brought her arm up and hit the door repeatedly, barely wincing as she felt the broken bones in her hand grind together.

Her vision went black as she collapsed onto something surprisingly squishy. Bellatrix let herself fall asleep to the drowned out sounds of voices.

__________

Everyone at the dinner table jumped as something hit the backdoor. They would have thought it was Errol, but it was too large. It was followed by slow, weak knocking. Molly stood up and walked cautiously towards the door. She couldn't see anyone through the peephole so she opened the door. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. She couldn't believe her eyes. Was she hallucinating? Was this a trick?

Molly heard a "Mum?" coming from behind her. "What is it?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chap 3 should be up before Christmas


	3. Past Revealed & Healing - July 7th & 8th

**_July 7 th_ **

Molly heard a “Mum?” coming from behind her. “What is it?”

Molly couldn’t respond to her daughter as she stepped onto the porch to get a better look at the woman who had fallen off the porch into the flowerbed. The woman looked a lot like Bellatrix.  But it couldn’t be, could it? She stepped down and brushed the hair off of the unconscious woman’s face.

At the sound of Ginny’s loud gasp, Molly knew she wasn’t just hallucinating her childhood friend’s face. Not giving herself enough time to think, Molly picked up the unusually light woman. Her stomach churned as she heard bones grind against each other and all thoughts of this situation being a trap left her.

She called out to her husband, “Arthur!” She rushed past Ginny, who had sat down at the bottom of the staircase, and cleared the kitchen table with a small wave of her hand. “Call Poppy!”

Molly laid Bellatrix down on the large table and started cataloguing injuries. Normally, with such severe injuries, Molly would get the individual to a hospital, but that was obviously not an option with Bellatrix. They would either let her die, or heal her and send her back to Azkaban. She had once promised her childhood friend asylum if she ever needed it, Molly would not go back on her word. She was also genuinely curious as to why, after all these years, Bellatrix would show up on her doorstep. Surely, the other side had access to mediwitches.

As Molly focused on Bellatrix’s swollen and purpling stomach, most likely the result of severe internal bleeding, she noticed her husband was only standing beside her, staring.

“Arthur!” The man jumped, “What are you doing? Have you called Poppy?”

“Don’t you think it would just be better if we let her die?”

“Arthur!”

He threw his hands up. “Fine, fine.” It wasn’t worth arguing with his wife. _‘She’s probably going to die anyway.’_

When Molly was sure he was contacting Poppy, she continued to catalogue injuries. Bellatrix’s breathing was laboured, she more than likely had broken ribs, and her right leg looked like bagged purple jelly. The most pressing problem was the internal bleeding, Molly was worried. She couldn’t do anything about that, but to keep herself from panicking, Molly proceeded to heal the surface cuts and bruises. One by one they faded, but of course, that didn’t matter much. At least they were healing, there was a slim chance she would live long enough for Poppy to arrive.

“Arthur, did you call Poppy?” Molly was getting increasingly nervous.

“Yes, she’s on her way.” Arthur sat down on the staircase next to his daughter, watching his wife worry over what was now a monster. Yes, Bellatrix was once a friend, but what she had done since joining the Death Eaters was inexcusable.

The fireplace erupted in green flames, and a tired Poppy Pomfrey, in casual clothes, holding her medicine bag, came out of it. She immediately came to life as she realised who was on the kitchen table. Arthur was not kidding.

Poppy was reluctant to help the Death Eater, but remembered how well Molly and Bellatrix had gotten along at Hogwarts. The two were always getting into trouble, staying up past curfew, breaking into the Restricted Section of the library, jinxing the unsuspecting teachers and students alike. If Poppy were to be honest, quite a few of them had deserved the jinxes. Even she had let out a laugh when the self-righteous Lucius Malfoy had come in to the infirmary with pink hair and gold skin, probably a result of having harassed one of Bellatrix’s younger sisters. However, Black always took things further and was regularly in the Forbidden Forest. And it had only gotten worse over the years…

No matter, Poppy decided she would do her best for Bellatrix tonight. If the woman had come looking for a new start, Molly would make sure that would happen. If not, it would be easy to turn her in.

Poppy scrutinised the naked woman on the table, the jelly-like near-black right leg, she wasn’t certain if she could save it. It was so unnatural looking, but not the most worrying thing she could see. The distending abdomen was particularly worrying, an obvious sign of internal bleeding. She calmly pushed Molly away from Bellatrix, encouraging her to relax slightly.

Poppy pulled a tube out of her bag, and started inserting it into the unconscious woman’s oesophagus. It would make it easier to administer the needed potions. The first potion was one specialised in healing veins and arteries without relying on the body’s effective, but slow, clotting. She poured it down the feeding tube and after a short delay Poppy noted the lack of continued swelling in the woman’s abdomen, however it wasn’t done healing yet, so she started magically scanning for broken bones and ruptured organs that would need different potions.

**********

“Mom?” Molly’s heart skipped a beat – Ron’s voice. This would not blow over well.

“Poppy.” She whispered frantically to the concentrated woman. “You need to move. If the boys come down and see this…”

Poppy sighed but acquiesced; “Alright, where do we go?”

“Come. The living room.” Molly ushered her off into the living room while levitating Bellatrix onto the couch. She closed the door and locked them inside. As she turned to clean the kitchen, she found Arthur already at it, and Ginny, still sitting on the staircase, holding a small silver bag.

“What’s that?” she asked as she sat down on the step next to her daughter.

“Bellatrix’s bag.”

“How did you get that?”

They turned around to see Fred, George and Ron standing on the mid-point landing behind them in their pyjamas. The twins were currently staying at the Burrow due to one of their inventions blowing up their flat.

Ginny looked to her mom, “I found it on the porch.”

Molly sighed and noticed Arthur was done cleaning. She ushered her children to the table and her husband joined them.

“I need to tell you something important.” She paused, “During my time at Hogwarts, I was very good friends with Bellatrix Black.”

Her children gasped and her youngest son jumped up and let out a loud, “What?” turning red in the face.

It looked as if he was going to start a fit and Arthur stepped in; “Ronald Weasley! Sit down and listen to your mother!”

The no-nonsense tone given to him was enough for the boy to plop back down and grit his teeth.

Molly continued; “She was a year behind me in school. But, if she were interested, she could tutor the third years. At first we clashed, both strong willed and in different houses. But an... incident… brought us together. We were friends until she graduated, was forced to marry and forced to join the Death Eaters. During her fourth, fifth and sixth years, Bellatrix even lived with us due to abuse, along with her friend, Shina. Andromeda moved in with Ted Tonks in her sixth year, and Narcissa was relatively safe at the Black residence, both came by fairly often to visit their sister. I know Bella most definitely didn’t believe this pureblood spiel. She never complained about the abuse at home, but Merlin, did we hear about how crazy this new sect was. If that’s not enough, in 1968, the Death Eaters attacked a muggle village south of the Scottish border, Brampton, I believe. Myself, Eunice Switch, a young muggleborn Gryffindor who we hung out with, Andromeda and Bellatrix were out and about nearby and heard the destruction. We ran to help, Alastor and Kingsley showed up not long after, I’m not sure how they heard but they were there. Others arrived later. Bellatrix fought alongside us the entire time, saving many lives…”

“And she has taken many more since then!” Ron exclaimed.

“She has,” Molly acquiesced, “But I think she can change for the better. And say she does want to change, who are we to judge right now? If you want to be superficial, can you imagine how helpful having a witch of her power on our side will be? And we have her now, she’s weak, and if, and only if, we have too, we will turn her over or do with her as we wish.”

“What do you mean, ‘we have her’?” Fred prompted.

“She is in the living room.”

“WHAT?” At this, Ron truly jumped out of his seat, drawing his wand and rushed to the living room, accidently slamming into the door as it was locked.

“Ronald Bilius Weasley!” Arthur exclaimed. His son knew well enough to still and wait for further instructions. “Have you not been listening to your mother? I am not happy about this development but you owe it to your mother to accept her decision.”

Ron grit out, “That woman shouldn’t be allowed to live.”

“Maybe, but that is not your decision to make. Are you willing to take a life? To degrade yourself to the point of the Death Eaters?” Molly asked calmly. Ron paled, he hadn’t thought of that. “Now.” Molly continued. “She is currently in extremely bad shape. She has obviously been tortured and starved. I will offer her asylum as long as she switches sides and abides by our rules as well as any restrictions that will be given to her by the Order.”

Arthur nodded at that statement and rose to warn the Order about an impeding meeting. It would be best to wait to schedule a meeting until they knew for sure the witch would survive and to wait until she was strong enough to be questioned.  

Ron reddened in anger, but knew better than to argue further, so he turned and stomped back up to his bedroom for the night. The twins were quiet, unsure, but trusted their mother. They had loads of questions, as they imagine all of them had.

“Ginny?”

Her mother’s voice brought her back from her reverie. She was unhappy about the situation but didn’t sense any threat for the moment. Hopefully it wasn’t a trap set out by the Death Eaters, using her mother’s loyalty to help infiltrate the Order. But those injuries were not faked, and were most definitely life threatening. They could achieve the same result with less abuse. Ginny sighed. Hermione was going to be at the Burrow in less than a week, she would bounce the ideas she couldn’t say in front of her mother off of her best friend.

“Yes?”

“What’s in Bella’s bag?”

Ginny looked down to the, more than likely, bottomless bag she had been fiddling with the past hour or so. She held her breath and reached in, hoping there were no defensive spells. She was stunned, but relieved to encounter no resistance. She closed her hand around the first object she touched and pulled it out. Bellatrix’s wand.

Molly held her hand out for the wand. “I will hide this in the house. Bellatrix is great with wandless magic, but weak and without a wand should put her at a disadvantage for now.”

Everyone nodded in approval as Ginny pulled another object from the bag.

“A hipflask?” Arthur asked as he sat back down at the table, having written and sent letters to all the Order members.

This time he took the object. It was silver and had the initials B.B. on either side. Curious as to its content, Arthur opened it. He quickly put the stopper back in, a nauseating odour had wafted out from it. Arthur coughed from the smell and the others around the table also looked like their noses had been assaulted.

“That’s obviously rank.” Arthur tossed the flask on the counter to be cleaned or thrown out later. “What’s next?”

Ginny pulled out a handkerchief, embroidered soft black velvet with a lace edging. Pretty, unexpected, but uninteresting in terms of finding out why Bellatrix was here. She pulled out the next item, which turned out to be two tangled necklaces. One was a piece of onyx in the shape of a dragon’s tooth hanging on a silver chain via wire wrapping. The other was a rose gold chain holding a gold ring on which was a diamond flanked by an onyx and a ruby on each side. Ginny could feel a humming going through her fingers. The onyx tooth was enchanted.

“This one’s charmed.” She handed the mess of necklaces to her mother.

“Yes.” Molly confirmed, taking the necklaces. “It has a twin, Bellatrix’s ex-lover has it or had it. I believe it has a locator charm on it.”

“Do we need to worry about Shina making an appearance?” Arthur inquired.

“Shina’s been missing. And even if she weren’t, she hated the Death Eaters as much or more than we do.” Molly smiled softly as she fiddled with the gold ring. “This was a promise ring from Shina to Bella. They promised to marry but Shina disappeared before that could happen. I see Bellatrix hasn’t forgotten her.”

Her children did not look very interested in Molly’s reminiscing so she only sighed again and asked; “What’s next?”

Ginny pulled out a tiny pouch, pink with gold embroidery, it too hummed with magic. Arthur reached for it immediately recognising the symbols on it. “Bloody hell.” He opened the pouch slightly and closed it soon after. “Fairy dust. Where did she get that?” He dropped the bag back on the table.

It was a rhetorical question no one could answer so Arthur just nodded to Ginny to continue.

Next was a leather pouch. Ginny looked inside and simply stated; “Money.” Before putting it on the table and reaching into the silver bag once again. This time she found a small leather folder containing three pictures. One was a picture of the Black sisters during their youth, all nicely dressed next to a large tree, all were smiling. The other was of Bellatrix with her arms wrapped around a sitting girl Ginny did not recognise, maybe the Shina her mother mentioned earlier? And lastly, a group photo of all of, she imagined, Bellatrix’s friends during school. She recognised her mother, her father, Bellatrix, Andromeda, while there were many others she didn’t.  Ginny passed the pictures to her mother, who sadly smiled. She watched her mother pull out her wand and cast a spell on the group photo and soon a duplicate photo fell from the original. Her father looked at her mother crossways.

“What?” Molly retorted innocently. “I don’t have a copy of this particular photo.” She put the originals on the table next to the rest of Bellatrix’s belongings, keeping the copy.

Ginny took the cue and reached into the bag again. It bumped a cold metal object which was wrapped in leather. She pulled out a sheathed dagger with a black crescent moon pommel.

“Not enchanted and sheathed.” Ginny put the dagger on the table and reached into the bag again. “It’s empty.” She placed the bag on the table.

Nobody was sure what to do now. Nothing really jumped at them. They couldn’t ask Bellatrix questions. Now they really just had to wait. Fidgeting, Molly put the items back into the bag. The silence was heavy. Until Ginny blurted;

“I don’t think Bellatrix was planning on being here.”

“I’m sorry?” her father prodded.

“Well, she is currently naked so she had nothing with her, she has nothing to use to communicate with the Death Eaters. The only dangerous objects in the bag are her dagger and wand, neither one of which she kept with her, all the others are sentimental... Then, there were the contents of the flask. Why carry something that has gone bad? With only this, I suppose you can still say it’s a set up, but you all saw her. Why injure yourself so severely? I’m sure you would have helped her with just one serious injury.” Ginny wasn’t happy about the development, but even she had to admit this situation didn’t make sense unless Lestrange really was in trouble. “I think she was attacked by the other Death Eaters.”

Arthur sighed. Ginny was not wrong. There was still a possibility this was trap. It was not a good situation, and it could go in any direction. “The only thing we can do now is wait and see.”

With that statement seemingly concluding their informal meeting, the twins got up and left. They could be heard debating between themselves as they went up the stairs.

They heard a knock on the door and Molly got up to answer. Going to the front door, Molly heard another knock and realised it was coming from the living room. She opened the door for Poppy. The older woman was covered in blood and looked exhausted.

Molly looked behind her to see an unmoving Bellatrix.

“She’s stable.”

Molly nodded and pulled out a chair for Poppy which she gratefully fell into. Molly also gave the mediwitch a glass of water before sitting down next to her. Poppy sighed before giving the report the others wanted to hear.

“It’s bad. But it looks like she might make it. I had to fix three broken ribs which had punctured some of her organs. They are still a little swollen but aren’t bleeding. Though she still looks extremely bruised. She had several broken and dislocated fingers and a broken nose, they are fixed no problem. The oddest thing was her right leg. Her tibia was shattered into extremely tiny pieces and her fibula was just missing. I couldn’t fix the tibia, so I removed all its pieces and gave her Skelegrow. I’m not sure if her bones will grow back. Her leg isn’t bleeding now but I’m not sure if the tissue is viable. She might just loose her leg.” Poppy pulled out a series of vials. “You will need to continue care. This is Skelegrow, this is antibiotics, this is for the bruising, here’s a dose sheet.” Molly nodded, she would follow the instructions well. “Let me know if her leg gets worse. She’s also been starved and is extremely dehydrated. Now Molly, I know you love to feed people, but if you give her a full meal right now, she will, at best, throw it up, at worst, her stomach will burst.” Poppy showed her a bottle of off-white liquid. “Start feeding her this, it’s softer on the stomach and will help with dehydration. Give her a bit at a time, as many times a day as she wants. Cut back if she throws up. Introduce food gradually, nothing too rich at first. Let Bellatrix tell you what she needs and don’t force her to eat. On that note, also don’t let her eat anything too fast.”

“Of course. This implies she is going to wake up soon?”

“Yes, she should wake up sometime tomorrow. Although she may not be all there. I do not suggest questioning her then. I can tell you for a fact that she was tortured for at least a week. Repeatedly raped and beaten. She most certainly isn’t here on command of the Death Eaters. Though I can’t tell you her other intentions.”

Arthur seemed a little surprised, but trusted Poppy.

“Did you give her something in regards to the rape?” Molly inquired.

Poppy nodded. “The anti-bruising potion works on that too. Gave her a birth control potion as well.”

“What about going to the bathroom?”

“She has a catheter in right now, her urine is draining to a bag. You can just switch it out when it gets full until she can get to the bathroom. She’ll definitely need crutches and help to get around at the start.”

 _‘If she stays that long…’_ Arthur thought to himself.

Molly could not think of another question to ask about the surprise guest so she let Poppy enjoy her glass of water before asking her if she wanted anything to eat.

“No thank you, I just want to go home and rest. I imagine you know you can trust me to keep your secret.”

Molly smiled slightly. “Yes, thank you. And thank you for coming on such short notice.”

Poppy nodded and got up to leave. She got to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of Floo powder before turning around to look at the three people seated at the table. “Oh, and I forgot to mention, I had to drain the blood from her torso to relieve the pressure around her organs. She’s had blood restoring potions, so she’s fine, but your living room looks like a slaughterhouse.”

Molly wasn’t exactly pleased, but blood could be cleaned. She thanked Poppy again and watched the woman disappear in green flames.

“Well then, I guess I’ll go clean up the living room. Ginny, it’s time for bed, love.”

Ginny nodded and headed up quietly, tired out from the recent events.

Arthur followed Molly into living room. The couch and its immediate surroundings were completely red. Arthur left Molly to clean Bellatrix and the area around her and he took the floor. It took a while, even with magic blood was hard to clean, but they got it done. And he left to get ready to go bed, leaving Molly in the room.

Molly looked at her old friend and her heart sank. She looked horrible, 14 years in Azkaban, a rough lifestyle and at least a week of torture had left her looking like a purple shell. Bellatrix was barely moving, only the small up and down movement of her chest letting Molly know she was alive. She looked cold, which was understandable considering she was naked and low on blood. Molly went to get a blanket and enchanted it to regulate its temperature according to Bellatrix’s temperature. She tucked the blanket around the unconscious woman before finally leaving to go to bed. She made sure to lock the living room behind her. She then went up to the attic to hide Bella’s wand before going back down to the fourth floor to her own bedroom.

It took Molly a long time to fall asleep, the hard decisions she would have to make in the next few days looming over her.


	4. Waking Up - July 8th & 9th

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Finally!! Sorry about the wait 0.0

**_July 8 th_ **

“Andy? Where are you going?”

Bellatrix watched as a young Andromeda turned around at the gate.

“I’m leaving.”

“What? No!” Bellatrix’s heart tightened. “You can’t go.”

“I have to. I can’t stay here. Not after everything that has happened.” 

“You can’t go. Things will change, I promise.” Bella pleaded.

“No, they won’t.”

Andromeda turned to open the gate.

“I’m sorry!” Bella called.

An older Andromeda now stood on the other side of the closed gate.

“That’s not enough.”

Bellatrix shed tears as she watched her sister leave.

“Andy!”

*****

No matter how late she went to bed, Molly couldn’t sleep until 9, her normal time on a Sunday. She had woken at 6 and couldn’t get back to sleep. It was now 7 and she slowly went to unlock the living room door. Bellatrix was still there. It hadn’t been a dream. Molly checked her pulse and let out the breath she had been holding. She was still alive. As relieved as she was, she couldn’t help but think it may have been simpler if she had died.

Bellatrix looked like hell, and it seemingly had spread to the surroundings. Poppy had only cleaned up her wounds so she was still covered in blood and mud, as was the couch and surrounding floor. Molly got a bucket of warm water and sat down on the chair she had brought next to the couch. She washed Bellatrix, checking on her wounds as she went. Her work was hindered as Molly had to make sure the weak witch was still properly covered by the blanket, as Bellatrix had started shivering violently when Molly had removed it the first time. She had a fever. She finished her task by changing the urine bag and cleaning the couch and floor.

Molly noted that some of the bruising on Bellatrix’s body looked worse, probably because they were fresh, most were starting to heal, and some were even starting to go yellow. Her stomach was no more swollen, her internal bleeding seemed to have stopped. This was good. She couldn’t check on the broken bones, not having been taught those spells. They would have to wait until Poppy came back.

Molly proceeded to sweep her wand over the battered body, whispering over and over the spell to heal bruises. Bellatrix started shifting a bit, her pain lessened slightly, though not conscious. Molly’s concentration was broken when she heard footsteps upstairs, she looked at the clock; 8:30. She didn’t think the kids would be up quite yet. She looked back down, the bruises had healed some and the swelling had gone down. Molly decided it was enough, for now. She slipped into the kitchen and quickly prepared a broth and some medicine for the fever. She wanted to get this done before everybody came down for breakfast.

Molly stared at the tube in her hands and stared at the emaciated woman. All of a sudden the muggle hospital needles Arthur had told her about seemed the better option. Bellatrix needed medicine and food for strength, and the only way to give it to her was by inserting a tube down her throat. She would rather wait until Bellatrix could feed herself, but who knew when that would be? She decided to feed her the broth first, there was more than the medicine, but still less than half a glass of water. If she can’t hold it in, she didn’t want the medicine to come back up with it.

Molly hoped that Bellatrix wouldn’t jerk as she opened her mouth to slip the feeding tube in. She held her breath as she managed to insert the tube into the oesophagus. Good. Now she poured the small amount of broth into it. She really didn’t want to insert the tube again but removed it nonetheless, if she were to throw up with it in, she would choke. Sure enough, Bellatrix started heaving, though it seemed she didn’t have enough strength to turn herself. Molly turned Bella on her side as the broth came back up, and then slowly put her back down on the couch.

“Mom?”

Molly jumped, but was relieved to see Ginny.

“Good morning, dear. Sleep well?”

Ginny shrugged. Her sleep was probably as restful as the rest of the worried household.

“What are you doing?”

“I tried to feed her.” Molly looked down at the mess. “Obviously it didn’t work.” She turned back to Ginny, “Could you start breakfast? I’ll be out shortly to help you.”

Her daughter nodded and slowly left, glancing at the woman on the sofa.

Molly waited until the door clicked shut to insert the tube again, it was a little easier this time. She poured the thirty millilitres of medicine into the tube. Molly waited for a few moments, Bellatrix heaved a bit, but did keep it down. _‘Good.’_

Molly tucked her old friend in and cleaned the mess before heading out. She made sure to lock the living room before feeding her family.

“Is she still alive?”

Molly looked up to look at her husband. They were nearly done with their breakfast and the elephant in the room had not yet been addressed.

Molly nodded her head. No one really reacted to that statement save for Ron who audibly grit his teeth. But thankfully he said nothing and continued to angrily chew his food.

“I got a response from the Order. Dumbledore told me to let them know if she wakes up, we’ll call a meeting for noon the next day.”

Molly nodded once more. What more was there to say?

As they started to clear the table, Molly heard a thump. She turned to see her youngest boy fall to the ground.

“Ron!”

Molly and Arthur rushed to his side, they looked up when they heard snickering from the twins who were standing near the counter. Ginny was still at the table, fighting a grin.

“What did you do?” Molly asked, aghast at her children’s actions.

“What?” George replied.

 “We just asked Ron if he could tell if this has gone bad.” Fred held up Bellatrix’s flask.

“Fred and George Weasley!” Molly scolded. She was about to continue but Ron came too, and the twins bolted outside.

“Ron, are you okay?”

“Bloody hell, that was foul.”

*****

Arthur, seeing as Bellatrix wasn’t on death’s door anymore, had a long discussion with Molly as to whether to cancel Harry’s stay with them and send their children away until the problem was dealt with. But talking to his wife was useless. She was firm, she trusted Bellatrix and the only person that could convince her to do anything else was Dumbledore. Once again, Arthur reminded her that the Death Eater in their living room was not the Bella they had grown up with. But it fell on deaf ears as he watched her duck into the living room to try and give more broth to the unconscious woman.

Molly had been checking in on their guest throughout the day. The injured witch seemed to be gaining a little bit of strength back. Her arms shifting a little bit from time to time.

After her little argument with her husband, she went to try and feed Bellatrix again. Her children had made themselves scarce the entire day, so the amount of animosity in the air was limited.

Molly went to insert the feeding tube again but was, pleasantly, surprised when Bellatrix turned her head in protest. So instead she grabbed a spoon to slowly feed the grown woman. Being semi-conscious Bellatrix spilled quite a bit of it but ate eagerly.

Molly jumped and spilled the rest of the broth as her old friend startled awake, bringing her hand up to push whatever was nearby away. The woman tried to crawl away, she wasn’t entirely conscious and her head swayed as she fought sleep. Molly moved to physically block her from falling off the couch.

“Shhh…” Molly put her hand on the side of her friend’s face, who stilled, seemingly waiting for an attack. “It’s okay. It’s Molly. You’re safe.”

Bellatrix relaxed at the soft tone. “M…M…Mo…lly?” She stuttered.

“Yes.”

Bellatrix wavered a bit but finally managed to focus her gaze on the other woman.

“What happened, Bella?”

The witch seemed to think intensively, then be sickened by whatever she found in her memory. “Dolohov.” She frowned and shook her head. “…Our Lord…I… Fell…” Molly grabbed the broth bowl as it looked like Bellatrix would throw up the meagre contents of her stomach. “I couldn’t… I can’t anymore.” The witch shook her head. “The Order…Please?”

Bellatrix barely managed the last plea before she fainted. Molly was shaken up a bit, she didn’t understand most of it, but the raw emotions emanating from the woman got the upsetting message through. Molly got up and moved Bellatrix back down the couch, placing her back into a good sleeping position and pulling the blanket over her.

When it was clear that Bellatrix was not going to wake up again, Molly got up and grabbed the items she needed to wash. When she turned, she was stunned to see all four of her youngest’s were standing at the cracked open door. Red-faced Ron was the first to move, stomping away from the door and up the stairs without a word. The twins and Ginny moved aside to let their mother through. Molly examined the features of her children whilst she locked the door. The twins were contemplative, and Ginny looked worried.

“What’s going to happen now?” Ginny asked.

“That will be up to the Order, and what Bellatrix decides to tell them.”

“When is the meeting?” George inquired.

Molly shrugged her shoulders. “Dumbledore said the day after she wakes up… I’m not sure if that qualifies as awake, but I will tell the Order of the new development.”

The mother quickly turned away, hoping to conceal the worry and sadness from her children. She had to remind herself over and over again that the woman that was currently in her living room was not the same girl she had roamed with at Hogwarts. Her children did, however, witness a fleeting glance of emotion as Molly headed towards the writing table. She wondered what they thought of her, fretting over a murderer. Well, perhaps not Ron, but the others had remained quiet. Did they think less of her?

The first letter she wrote was to Poppy, letting her know of the new situation. Molly asked her if she would be so kind as to come to the Burrow that evening to check on Bellatrix and let her know whether the Order meeting, now planned for the next day, could go ahead. The next was to Dumbledore, to let him know Bellatrix had woken, and was more than likely capable of speaking to them in the next several days, though she was not sure if the meeting could go ahead for the next day, they would have to wait and see what Poppy would decide.

Molly paused in her writings. Perhaps she should make sure to have the meeting as soon as possible? So, the others would have an idea as to what state Bellatrix had arrived in, and how unlikely it was that she had been planted by the Death Eaters. Molly started when she remembered something she had pushed to the back of her mind, Frank, Alice and Sirius. She put her quill down. These were her only confirmed victims, but there was, she was sure, more. Bellatrix really wasn’t the girl she had grown up with. Perhaps it _would_ be better to let her die. Then all could find peace in some form or another.

But no, she supposed all deserved a second chance. They would meet, Bellatrix would explain the situation, defend her actions if she wanted to. Then her fate would be decided fairly. There was also information to gain about the other side, if Bellatrix was willing.

With that Molly finished sending the letters. She was more apprehensive now, but still certain she needed to try.

*****

Molly had just sat down with a cup of tea when a green flame erupted from the fireplace. She was the only one left in house, save their ‘guest’, so when no one came out of the fireplace she reluctantly put down her cup and went to see you was calling.

“Charlie!” Molly exclaimed happily when she saw whose face was in the flames. Her second eldest rarely called, she was always delighted to hear from him. But the expression on his face quickly set the mood for the conversation.

“Mother,” his tone was serious, “Ron told me you are hiding Bellatrix Lestrange?”

Molly deflated and pulled a chair next to the fireplace; “We aren’t _hiding_ her. She showed up at our door last night, nearly dead. She…was my friend at school, so I’ve decided to help her. We are going to be having an Order meeting on the subject soon.”

“I trust she can’t hurt anyone? You’ve removed her wand?”

“She does not have her wand, its hidden.”

“What about her wandless magic?”

“Charlie, she barely has enough energy to stay conscious or eat, there’s no way she is going to be using wandless magic. And she is locked in the living room, without anything that could be used as a weapon.”

There was a pause whilst Charlie digested the information.

“Why not just let her die?”

“If I’m being honest – because I can’t stand letting a childhood friend just die, not matter what they’ve done. If you want to be selfish – she can give us quite a bit of information on You-Know-Who and his followers.” Molly paused briefly, than continued; “Anyways, we are going to have an Order meeting soon, no matter the outcome of it, Bellatrix will not be going to back to fight for _their_ side.”

Charlie was silent for a while, but eventually nodded. “Alright. I’ll check in in a couple of days.”

“I love you Charlie, stay safe.”

“You too.”

Molly picked up her mug as she got up to go sit at the kitchen table again. She wasn’t surprised Ron had reached out to Charlie, and wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of her older boys called to check in. She was happy to find out Charlie trusted her to that point. She wouldn’t be surprised if this were the case for Bill as well, though Percy was probably going to be difficult.

Molly leaned back and closed her eyes. As time passed she got more and more apprehensive about the coming meeting.

Molly jumped as the Floo network activated.

Arthur stepped out; “Were you actually asleep?” His kissed his wife.

Molly shook her head; “Just thinking.” Her glance towards the living room door made it clear exactly what she was thinking about.

Arthur sighed and nodded. “Any replies yet?”

“No,” she turned towards the clock, it was five PM. She supposed she should start making supper. She didn’t feel like making anything elaborate, and she had some older veggies, a bit of this and a bit of that, and she had a hearty beef soup. She had enough for her family and included a portion for Poppy, in case she did come. She also set aside a small portion for Bellatrix, she took the meat out of it as it would be too hard to eat, and she made sure it would be overcooked to soften the veggies even more. Hopefully she would be able to eat it.

About an hour later, her children came home for supper. Ron tried to take his food up to his room, but Molly was having none of it, he would eat with the rest of the family. He was understandably angry. He had watched her kill Sirius, threaten Hermione, and knew Alice’s son very well. She imagined Harry would be even angrier once he got here. Hopefully, the matter would have reached a settlement by then.

Poppy came out of the fireplace about halfway through supper, apologizing for not answering the letter before showing up. She worked at St. Mongo’s when Hogwarts wasn’t in session and it had been particularly busy today. Though none of the cases were related. Molly shook off the apology and sat the tired woman down at the table and brought her food.

“We aren’t in a rush. Please, eat, and take your time.”

Molly sat back down to her supper just as Ron got up and marched to his room. Molly absolutely hated the quiet and the tension amongst her family at the moment. She couldn’t wait to have the relaxed, laughing atmosphere back.

After supper, she let the twins pick up the dishes as she and Poppy slipped into the living room. To their overwhelming surprise, Bellatrix was awake and staring at the ceiling.

At the sound of people entering the room, the woman panicked and tried to scoot away but it was obvious that in her more conscious state she felt a lot more pain, she moved a lot slower than she probably would like.

But after shushing noises from Molly and reassurances from her, Bellatrix calmed down enough to realise who was in the room. She looked surprised to be there, obviously she was so hurt she could not remember the events of the past few days.

Bellatrix addressed Molly with a hoarse voice and terrified wide eyes. “Am I going back to Azkaban?”

Molly knelt to eye level. “I can’t guarantee you won’t go back to Azkaban.” At her childhood friend’s horrified look, she continued quickly, “But depending on how the Order meeting goes, there might be other choices.”

Bellatrix looked weary but settled a bit. She gladly took the glass of water Poppy offered her. The first sip of water ended up all over the place as Bellatrix’s body seemed to have forgotten how to swallow. But she managed the next couple more sips, though with difficulty.

They heard a soft knock at the door. They had forgotten to close it, everyone else in the house was now at the living room door.

“Can we come in?” Ginny asked.

“Perhaps after my examination, I believe Bellatrix might want to keep some sense of decency.”

“It doesn’t matter.” They looked down at the tired woman on the couch. Her voice was a little better after drinking, but still seem to weight heavily in the air even if spoken softly. “I am an intruder in your home, whatever makes you feel safer…” Bellatrix rested her head back down after looking at the newcomers, seemingly already exhausted by the conversation.

With that Arthur came to stand beside Molly at Bellatrix’s head, the twins and Ginny went to stand across from the couch. Ron remained in the doorframe. Poppy nodded, removed Bellatrix’s blanket and got to work. Almost all the bones that were previously broken were now mostly fused, though still very weak and painful. She gave Bellatrix a second Skelegrow potion to help them along. She was stunned to see the bones in her lower leg had actually started to grow back, meaning the damage to her leg was magically made, much like the time that fool had made Potter’s arm bones disappear. Poppy was satisfied with this progress and therefore started once to heal the leftover bruising with her wand. It was slow going.

“Bella?”

Bellatrix looked up at Molly, surprised at the old nickname.

“What happened?”

“Who cares what happened?!” Ron stomped; “She has probably done the same thing to hundreds of people! And here she is- getting cared for! What the hell are you people thinking?”

“Ron!”

“No, Molly.” Both mother and son, startled, turned to look at her. Bellatrix’s tone was soft, slow and hesitant. “He’s right. I’ve done…Some unforgivable things. You said there was an Order meeting soon?” Molly nodded. “I have wanted to start over for so long now… I will tell everyone everything they want. If they allow it, I would like to fight beside you. Otherwise… Molly? Please?”

Molly nodded slowly, knowing exactly what Bellatrix was asking her to do. She didn’t like it. But she had helped Sirius after he had been released from Azkaban. He had been a shadow of his former self. Even after they had managed to glue the pieces back together, they were crooked and some pieces were still missing when he died.

“Can you tell us what has happened since the last time we talked?” Molly knew it was a bit much to ask, considering they were last together when they were 20.  

Averting her gaze contact, she whispered. “I’d rather recite that just once…If that’s alright.”

Molly nodded. “Okay.” Then she remembered the soup. “Oh, and I brought you some food if you think you can manage.”

Ron lost interest then and went back to his room, so did the twins. Ginny, on the other hand, had paled a bit and was lost in thought, not really noticing the people around her.

By this point, Poppy had finished healing the bruises. They weren’t completely healed as bruising that severe couldn’t be healed in one session, but they were hundreds of times better then when Bellatrix had arrived. The healer didn’t want to dawdle, as she was tired, but stayed long enough to hand over a three day supply of Skelegrow and pain killers and explain how to use them properly. She also added a feeding potion, soft on the stomach, it should help with the malnutrition and let her eat richer foods quicker. Molly and Bellatrix both thanked her, and she took her leave.

Poppy let out a little gasp as she rounded the corner and nearly collided with the Hogwarts headmaster. No one had noticed his arrival.

“Goodnight Poppy.” He smiled, then continued his way into the living room.

“Albus?” Arthur was surprised to see the head of the Order, he didn’t even think he would attend the Order meeting.

“Good evening. I came to check on your guest and verify all was good for a meeting at noon tomorrow.” Dumbledore turned and gently greeted the Death Eater. “Bellatrix.”

Bellatrix looked a mix of shy, scared and surprised, lying there staring at the headmaster. She nodded her hello.

“Will you be up to joining us tomorrow?”

This was asked in a friendly way, in such contrast to the intensive interrogation that she would probably face as a so-called ‘prisoner of war’. Right now, she was being treated by a friend, but that would probably change soon enough.

She nodded.

“Good.” He smiled and clasped his hands together. “See you all tomorrow at noon. Goodnight.”

Even though he was a calm gentle man, everyone in the room looked like a mental whirlwind had entered the room. A pause followed the man’s departure.

“Right then. I’ll leave you alone.” Arthur patted Molly’s shoulder and also left.

Ginny watched a little longer as Bellatrix attempted to pick up the spoon. The witch’s hand was trembling, and she huffed in frustration when no soup would stay on it.

“It’s okay.” Molly reassured, as Ginny left, closing the door. “It’ll come back. Here.”

Molly took the spoon from Bellatrix and proceeded to pick up some soup. Bellatrix was embarrassed by the necessity, but her hunger won out. The broth went down relatively easy, but the veggies, even over-cooked, would not.

The feeding took a long time, but Molly was patient and only left after Bellatrix had passed out.

*****

The next morning Molly got up early as she couldn’t sleep. She was nervous about the coming day. So nervous that she started cooking breakfast and only stopped when she realised she had made so much food she could feed not only her family with it, but their later guests as well. She had hoped Bellatrix was awake so she could feed her, but that wasn’t the case. She would rather Bellatrix rest then use her as a distraction.

Her family came down around 8 and they sat down to another quiet meal. Molly _was_ worried about the meeting, but now she was so anxious for its arrival as it would probably mean an at least partial return to normalcy for her family.

After breakfast she snuck a peak into the living room, and seeing Bellatrix awake and struggling to drink she went back into the kitchen to get some oatmeal. She paused but decided to also grab a sippy cup. It would probably not be well received, but it would help the immobile drink whilst lying down.

And sure enough when Bellatrix spotted the sippy cup, she stared menacingly at it.

Molly pointed out the obvious; “You are covered in water and you can’t sit up.”

Bellatrix looked like she wanted to snarkily reply, but she knew better. She reached for the cup and drank from it. Indeed it was a lot easier for her to handle.

Molly helped prop Bellatrix up on some pillows, the woman grimacing in pain, and handed her the bowl of oatmeal. Today Bellatrix found herself capable of feeding herself. She was trembling less, and the oatmeal was tick enough to stay on the spoon.

“How are you feeling this morning?”

Bellatrix looked up from her food. “Much better.” Bellatrix paused, looked away and met Molly’s gaze once again. “Thank you…for everything.”

Molly smiled. “I did promise.”

Bellatrix smiled back and continued to eat. “The meeting is at noon, right?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know who’s coming?”

“Not yet, though I suspect Moody, Shacklebolt and Lupin will be there. It seems Dumbledore might even come.”

Bellatrix nodded; “Molly… Would you mind going to my Gringotts vault this morning? I would like to be dressed for the meeting. There’s an emergency bag packed with essentials.”

“Of course I can.” Molly was happy to oblige, it would keep her occupied. She brought back some writing implements so Bellatrix could give her official permission to go into her vault.

Molly stayed by Bellatrix’s side until she had finished eating, making sure she also took the necessary potions.

“Oh, and Molly?” Bellatrix called as the other woman left the room. “Please, feel free to draw some money out, your kid’s school supplies are on me this year.”

Molly nodded and left the living room, locking it behind her.

So list of things to do before the meeting; go to Bellatrix’s vault, dress her, then lengthen the table and prepare tea. She should also probably pick up a wheelchair. She didn’t know whether she would take up the offer of money.


End file.
